Lies always have an expiration date.
As I watched the Emergency Presidential speech today, I thought wouldn’t it be nice if I could know the truth here. There is a reason for the old saying: hindsight is 20/20. The reason is, eventually the truth is known. When we can look back and see what really happened, then we can usually tell who was telling the truth, and who was pushing their personal agenda because they saw an opportunity, an opportunity for their gain at the expense of others. But how many get hurt by these lies? Maybe you. Maybe me. Maybe someone we love. Maybe all of us.
It seems one side is telling us COVID-19 is no worse than the flu unless you’re very old. The other side is screaming we’re all about to die, stock pile food and toilet paper, and our government is failing us! (Or more precisely, the “Republicans” are failing us, we need the Democrats! Really? No agenda here.) Now I know I’m a pretty simple guy, but seems to me these both can’t be true. Somebody is lying. Two or three months from now, as elections are upon us, the truth is likely to be known.
Let’s consider the bad affects on us, by whoever is lying. Let’s say our President is downplaying things, and we didn’t move as fast as we should have, or as intensely as we should have. This lie means more people are going to die than should have. We get caught flat-footed. Someone needs a respirator but there are not enough, and they die. There are not enough because the virus was very serious and affected more than just the old, and we didn’t move intensely enough and therefore people died. Healthcare workers were overwhelmed.
Someone’s mother couldn’t get the meds she needed. Someone’s friend couldn’t get a hospital bed. Someone’s husband, or wife, needed that respirator. People died and hearts broke; lives were cut short and did not get to chase their dreams. Talents died young and did not get to invent that next great thing that would have blessed us all. Yes, it will all be very tragic if that happens, if that proves to be “the TRUTH”.
Now for the other side. Let’s say the virus is no worse than the flu. If we are over reacting to what is actually a very mild threat, then what about the tremendous damage being done financially to our country? The tremendous cost! I mean, it’s not like we’re not already way over our heads in debt. If you have not thought about how seriously this emergency (or is it?) is affecting and hurting our country financially, then you need to pull your head out of the ground. What kind of denial do you live in?
Not only has the stock market suffered, and airlines, and the cruise ships, and gas companies, but this hurts all of us! It’s not the big guys who will suffer the most in such a panic. The big guys have big cushions to absorb such shocks. It’s all us lower on the food chain who get eaten. And if we try to bail out everybody, that may make a few feel better for a time, but all that money has to come from somewhere! There is no free ride in life. This is the truth. This snowball is rolling downhill and getting bigger and bigger as it goes! Guess where it has to eventually stop? You and I.
I work in a very popular nation wide restaurant. I only work part time. I went in to fry my chicken today, and my 4 hours got cut to 2 because we were so dead! I wasn’t the only one sent home early, and the poor waitresses. They make most of their money off tips! They only make like $2.00 to 2.50/hr! And we were dead! We’re trying to save lives, right? That’s what we’ve been told.
This does not even begin to consider parents suddenly having to find care for children, or shortages of food at the stores. I tried to buy a few things today and it was like fighting black Friday! (almost.) And when the better priced foods were already gone, I had to dig deeper and pay more even though I lost pay today! Now I’m dipping into money I saved to put a new roof on my house, because it really needs it. I know God will meet my needs, he always has, but I’m mentioning these things because of the “domino effect” already put in motion by fear that has been created because of a LIE? Or is it truth? Soon we will know, and then comes election day.
Lies always have a domino effect. By the time all the dominoes fall, do we remember the lie that started it all? Lies have an expiration date. Truth is eternal.
You may think you know who is lying and who is not, but the real challenge is to wait and find out for sure, and then not forget, but hold them accountable. As I watched the media attacking the President with agenda loaded questions, I did not forget how many times they have already lied to us in the past, like almost every day?
So…has the leopard changed its spots? Are they sincerely concerned about our best interest? If this proves to be another time of the little boy crying wolf, when will it finally become too many times? When will they have hurt us one to many times to be forgotten or go unpunished? If this all proves to be unnecessary panic, think how much pain and financial loss has been incurred by someone crying wolf when there is none.
It’s against the law to yell fire in a crowded building when there is none. There is good reason for that. Only an idiot would even do it. People get hurt. So either the media and the Democrats are yelling fire in a crowded building, or the Republicans did not warn us about the fire in time for us to leave in an orderly and safe fashion. I wonder who speaks TRUTH here? Who are the champions of TRUTH? Maybe it is time we the people become the champions of TRUTH again. But for that to happen we would need to stop lying too.
I haven’t had the virus, at least not yet, but I did suffer financial loss today in more ways than one. And I saw others suffering the same. “Domino Effect” is a strong and deadly force that should never be ignored when ever we consider an action. When a gambler decides to gamble, many of them fail to consider the domino effect and people suffer, loved ones suffer. When the alcoholic drinks, his mind and judgement become too numb to consider the domino effect. When a liar lies, for whatever reasons, they should be held accountable for shoving that first domino that sent all the others falling. And what did the lie achieve for you? Would those you hurt say it was worth it? The end justified the means? We shall see.
Perhaps God is the only one who can hold such things accountable. Some things are simply beyond our power. But we can learn to love TRUTH again, and become the champions of it, if we will but put away our personal agendas for the sake of TRUTH.
Sitting under the Willow Tree 