Transcription:
Quote “Most people will not take the trouble in finding out the truth, but are more inclined to accept the first story they hear. Source: Thucydides
Reflection Often, this quote has described my own beliefs, fed to me by loving parents, well-meaning teachers, and printed in history books. The process of awakening is that of casting it all away to walk unaided into revelation.
Of course, I could write a lot more about this quote. I could detail examples of the information that was erroneous, fictional, and fantastical shared with me as gospel. I could share how I passed this on to my own children in the hopes of doing for them what had been done for me, an acculturation so profound that I may as well have been protected by an invisible force field that made me feel special and treasured all my life.
But now, I know the truth. There was no force field. It was all a game of pretend that I learned to play better than anyone else, like a child who believes in Santa Claus through adulthood, in spite of the evidence.
Too Long for the Memo Pad
There’s another quote that I almost settled on today. It’s from Isaac Asimov, but I thought, “This is too long for my little memo pad.”
Asimov’s words are:
“I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I’ll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.
What do you believe without evidence? What truths do you adhere to that, like Thucydides says, are merely the first story you heard, perhaps in your mother’s arms, in the pew, or occupying a pupil’s desk?