People think of truth as a pretty simple concept, not easy, but clear. You know it, so either
you say it or you don’t. Whether you are on trial or hooked to a lie detector, typically it’s a
“tell or hide” concept. As a 17 year old, I deal with truth everyday. Just this past weekend I
had to decide whether or not to tell my mom if I was going to a party or lie and say that I
was staying in at a friend’s house to watch a movie. I have to choose every time I go out if
I want to tell her the whole story and deal with the horde of questions or lie and take the
easy way out. As I grow older though, learning and discussing with my friends has brought
me to question if it is really that simple.
The Oxford English Dictionary sees truth in the same clear way. Definition after definition
states this idea that truth is “conformity with fact” and “agreement with the rule” and
“accuracy of precision”. All of these make it seem like the truth is the clear choice we can
all make, like my choice to tell my mom my plans. But what happens when we don’t really
control our actions? Can the truth come even if we don’t actually want it? I thought I
controlled truth, but it turns out that there are situations where the truth controls me.
Lately, I have been thinking a lot about one interesting area where we have no control over