Hand Caught in the Cookie Jar

There is a line in the Indiana Jones films that rings true. While standing before a class he announces that “Archeology is the search for ‘Fact’, not truth”. He then suggests that if his students are looking for “truth” that they attend the theology class down the hall. What he failed to mention is that the meaning of fact is subject to its interpretation. Hence making it, almost, as meaningless at truth as you have to have some faith in the interpretation for it to be true.

This all goes beyond the scope of what I am ranting about. My rant is based on the actual experiences and patterns that I have observed when confronting people with “fact”. Gone are the days of honor, where a person would admit to a fact and face the consequences of their actions. We live in a world of paranoia where the facing of a face it met with shock. “Facts”, are now seen as a danger. A person is unwilling to accept responsibility for having their hand caught in the cookie jar. Like a cornered animal it will evoke the fight or fight syndrome. With the only way out being past you, they will barge at you to get past or fight with mud. This is an understanding that I came to long ago. My reactions of understanding the actions were not understood by a friend in a recent conversation.

I had an incident that my primitive actions would have been to do physical harm to the perpetrator of a crime toward me. My understanding of their reactions to the facts was greeted quizzically and not really understood. What they don’t understand is that I have invited to battle and the first thing to do is understand my enemy. If I react on instinct then all I achieve is a brawl with either no end or a best man standing situation. I can charge in with justifiable demands and enter his battle ground. I can expend my resources in skirmishes that would be best used in a crushing blow. As they are backed into a corner and wish to sling mud, I can listen to where they believe my weaknesses are. I can let them divulge their battle plan for the mess they have caused. In so, they show their weaknesses and vulnerabilities. The more desperate their justifications are the more unstable their battle ground becomes.

I have no time for truth anymore but fact. It seems that truth is the area in faith and I have lost my faith in humanity but have learned to understand its predatory mechanisms.