The Value of Truth

I’m hopeful that many of us have heard of the story at some point in our life about The Boy Who Cried Wolf. This is a fable that was attributed to Aesop, a Greek storyteller from 620-564 BCE. In this story, which I will summarize for you, Aesop tells of a young boy who was a shepherd. He was very bored with his job and wanted to have some fun with the villagers, so he proceeds to run back to the village, yelling that there was a wolf that had come to attack the sheep and that he needed their help. He did this several times and each time the village people would run out in order to protect their property. The boy thought that this was very amusing, so he laughed and laughed each time about how he had tricked them. In the end, the people became very angry at this young boy, so they decided that they would not listen to him if he did it again.

Of course, he did call for them again, but this time there was a wolf who had come to attack the sheep but no one would listen.

Why? Why is it that no one would listen when it was actually the truth that time?

To understand that, you have to understand the moral of the story. The moral of this story points to a truth that we too often forget, especially in today’s world, and that is: When someone constantly lies, then they lose the trust of others.

Now, it has gotten to the point that in today’s time, we have begun to mock those people who do that in order to hopefully shame them into recognizing what they’ve done. All too often, that hasn’t worked though. We know that because these are the same people who continue to lie. They haven’t learned this moral or the lesson. They haven’t learned that they are no longer trustworthy because they don’t value the truth. Or is that they keep hoping that the lie will eventually become the truth? Honestly, I don’t know.

My hope is that each of you reading this has understood that the lie(s) will keep getting bigger. You may have come to realize the value of the truth and know that if the lie keeps getting perpetuated then the person who perpetuates that lie, is also untrustworthy as well. Ron White, a comedian, said, “You can’t fix stupid.” If you’ve tried to correct them and they still refuse to stop with the lies, then all you can do is tune them out and listen to those who are trying to speak up and speak out about the things that matter to you. Trust me, you don’t want to go down that whirlpool with them.

So, what did I learn from this? I’ve always been taught to trust my instincts. I’ve found that if something smells fishy, I have learned to ask myself why it smells fishy. I value the truth even when it is hard to hear. It makes me a better person. I surround myself with others that I can trust to look out for my best interest as well as theirs.

What can you learn from this? Learn to trust your instincts. Learn to question that person’s motive for lying. Realize that if they don’t value themselves enough to tell the truth, then they certainly don’t value you either. You deserve so much more than that! Yes, the truth is always hard to hear, but think about how much better off you will be because you had recognized and valued the truth. You could say that you have become enlightened and that is NEVER a bad thing!