The Truth

 

The Truth

“Whenever I feel afraid, I hold my head erect, and whistle a happy tune, so no one will suspect, I’m afraid.” These lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein from the musical “The King and I” echo in my head. How often we are afraid! Could whistling really help?

In this little song, Anna is teaching her son about having confidence in himself. When he feels afraid, he is to “strike a careless pose” or act as if he is confident. When he acts this way, he will appear poised and “fool the people [he] fears” and, more importantly, himself. When he believes that he is fearless, he will act bravely. The whistling is a trick or cue to help him remember that he can be confident in his abilities.

Why can he be confident? Is it just because he thinks he has courage or is it because he has something to base his courage on? The values he brings with him, the truths he stands on, give him the support he needs to go forth confidently. His mother has taught him well.

What truths do we stand on today? I am sure that they are wide and varied. We have different cultural, religious, and family backgrounds. Our differences may cause conflict. We are encouraged to stand up for what we believe yet we all believe differently.

Dr. Frank Crane calls this “The Uproar” in Volume 9 of his Four Minute Essays published in 1919. At that time everyone then was screaming about their own particular take on the “truth.” The world had just fought a war over it. Dr. Crane felt that this tumult was not based on conviction, but on the lack of it. “Truth is the one indestructible, evergreen, eternally persistent thing on earth. All we have to do is to See it, to Believe in it, to Adjust our lives, thought, and speech to it, and wait. By and by it always wins.”

Truth is not something to shout about or fight over. It is something to be lived. Truth is obstinate. Truth prevails. People who believe in truth can be quiet because “they have hold of the one thing that cannot fail.” They can whistle in the dark because they have seen the light.

We may never completely agree on what “truth” is, but rather than shout at one another, might it not be better to live the truth we believe? Dr. Crane believed that “out of Truth flows Peace.” 

When Anna met the King of Siam, she found that she had a lot to whistle about. His truth and hers did not mesh. But they came to a mutual understanding because they developed a respect for one another. Perhaps if we harmonize our truth with respect we will create a new melody of peace. I can whistle that tune. How about you?