Truth

The blogging 101 assignment to write a post about the Truth Serum prompt didn’t interest me at all. “You’ve come into possession of one vial of truth serum. Who would you give it to (with the person’s consent, of course) — and what questions would you ask?” I didn’t like it. I didn’t want to spend time on it. And, I didn’t want it on my blog.

So, here I am, having given it considerable thought, writing about it anyway. Even worse, it has prompted  more thought about a subject, Secrecy, that I have been interested in for many years. Look for a post on that subject soon.

I find I can’t answer the “who” question until I have answered “why.” Why would I give a truth serum to anyone?

  • I might want to satisfy my curiosity about something they have already done.
  • I might want to find out what they are planning to do because I suspect they should be stopped.
  • I might expect that the information I get will alter my life in some way.
  • I might want justification for some action I contemplate. It just looks better for me to be responding than initiating some controversial action.

Well, I lead a pretty bland life. I’m not interested in gossip. I don’t have friends or children who look like they are about to engage in mass murder or suicide. I don’t have the ability to keep countries from going to war. I don’t have any need for revenge on anyone, so those reasons just don’t have any appeal.

The best reason I see in that list is that I might learn something useful that would alter my life—for the better I might hope. So, I’m going to lock myself in a room, drink the serum, review my life, and see what I learn.

6 thoughts on “Truth”

  1. Hello, as you will know, I come through Blogging 101. This is a great analysis of the prompt, very thoughtful, and the conclusion is surprising, and amusing–as well as thought-provoking. I didn’t like the prompt either, but I just threw out a quick like about it, and didn’t reflect on it at all. This is a great post.

    Like

  2. This was initially my reaction to the truth prompt. If I didn’t have a run-in with the woman at work that I discuss in my post, I probably wouldn’t have had the motivation to write much. But you masterfully transformed the lack of interest in a prompt into an amusing piece. 🙂

    Like

    • Thank you. As you can guess, I’m a pretty laid back person, so I really admired the passion you got into your piece.

      I grew up in an all white town in the Mid-west, but, even so, I don’t get the idea of hating people who are different. My best friend growing up was a member of the most different group we had—a Catholic. Maybe I haven’t given my parents enough credit for what they did for me in terms of guiding my attitudes.

      Like

      • Yeah I think we don’t ever appreciate our parents’ guiding hands until we assess those around us. Although it was tough making and keeping friends from moving so much, I really appreciate my parents exposing my siblings and me to so many different cultures, people and outlooks. ☺

        Like

  3. I didn’t have the advantage of that cultural exposure. I went to Europe after my first year in college (to visit a Swiss exchange student who had lived with us) . I was so naive that it never occurred to me that arriving in a city at 10 pm without a place to stay in a country where I didn’t speak the language might be a problem.

    I think exposure to people who are different and cultures that are different at a young age is very important in developing tolerant attitudes. The people who have never been anywhere away from home are the most likely to develop hatred for people who are “not us.”

    Like

Your thoughts?