Welcome back! For those who read the prior post, did you think about what I asked, and did you take a few minutes to consider what you believe to be true? If so, or if not, how important is truth to you? I once read a sign in Utah that said, “False hope is better than no hope at all.” What do you think about that? Does truth matter? I think it does, and I think that on some level it matters to everyone.

If you go into a store and buy a $2.00 bag of chips and give the clerk a ten dollar bill, would you smile and walk away if she gave you $1.00 in change? Or, if you stood in line for an hour for the Pirates of the Caribbean only to be rerouted to the Tea Cup ride, would you conclude that your reality-conflict caused the problem and that no one was really wrong? Or, if you ordered a double bacon cheeseburger—and paid a hefty price for it—only to find a green salad with low fat dressing in your bag… Okay, I think you get my point. Even those who argue that truth is relative don’t want their appetites messed with!

Some of you may be thinking the examples in the previous paragraph have little to do with truth but are simply errors, or misunderstandings that can be easily resolved. Maybe so. But what if the clerk insists that 10-2=1? Or, what if the amusement park worker swears that the Tea Cup ride is just another name for all the thrill rides? But if the fast-food worker is a vegetarian, and you’re not, will you ever be convinced that a salad is a burger? Is a pretend burger better than no burger at all???

So, can we agree that on some level truth, or fact, does exist and that it really matters to us? If so, why? For most of us it is because of how it affects us personally. But, does the necessity for truth extend beyond how it impacts me in any given moment? Is there a need for truth that surpasses the impact on me?

By now you’re probably wondering what all of this has to do with The Bridge from OneDayBow. For Tim, who is one of the main characters in the book, truth has everything to do with it. Tim lives in a place called HereAndNow, where truth is pretty marginalized and a lot of outright deception is going on. That’s not to say that those in HereAndNow don’t believe anything because everyone believes something, actually lots of things. But, are they believing the right things? And is there a way to know what those right things are?

How do you answer those questions? Again I need to ask: Does truth matter?