Letter: Can we handle the truth?

Published 4:35 pm Friday, September 17, 2021

When we were going to Dalton High School in the late 1950s and early 1960s, there was an inspirational engraving above the entrance to our school that read:

“And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”

What a beautiful quotation (from the Bible, John 8:32)! But knowing the truth is difficult, acknowledging the truth sometimes painful and unlocking the power of truth a tremendous challenge. But truth is essential in America’s quest for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!

Today, our lives are cluttered with misinformation. Our opinions and feelings toward one another have spiraled out of control into extreme polarizations of different points of view, creating divisions filled with hate and mistrust.

To put our country back on track, we must unite in our efforts to respect the truth, debate issues, try to understand one another and work together to grow, learn and act responsibly as citizens of the United States of America. Members of our divided Congress must do the same, working together on our behalf as statesmen and stateswomen, just as our forefathers intended.

Only then can we begin to understand, appreciate and become adept at handling the truth. Only then can we hope to evolve into a united nation without today’s debilitating divisions, prejudices and mistrust, and begin to truly become, as so eloquently expressed by Martin Luther King Jr. in his famous “I have a dream” speech, “Free at last, free at last …”

Ted and Barbara Smith

Ocala, Florida

Formerly of Dalton