The facets of truth

The celebrated Tamil Poet Thiruvalluvar, in his seminal work Thirukkural (circa 300 BC), describes one of the facets of truth thus – “Even falsehood has the nature of truth if it confers a benefit that is free from fault”. While the definition of truth refers to the real facts about a situation or person, a good lie is an untruth in which the justice of the outcome supersedes the wrong of having lied. This fact is beautifully illustrated in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Jim is a mild mannered slave who made his escape from slavery, befriends Huck and they travel on the Mississippi river together on a raft.

When the slave hunters of the river demand they come aboard his raft to check out the tent for an escaped slave, Huck lies to them that his father who is suffering from smallpox is lying inside the tent. He knows that the fear of the dreadful disease would keep the men at bay. The genius of Mark Twain shines here as not only this lie elicited the expected fear but also sympathy to send some money over on a floating plank.

Another facet of truth is attributed to Dr. Wayne Dyer - “When given the choice between being right and being kind, choose kind.” This quote was introduced as a precept (rules about important things) by a teacher on the first day of the school in the Children’s book ‘Wonder’. This heart-warming book is about a boy with severe facial disfiguration entering middle school after being homeschooled until then.

The protagonist, August Pullman is shunned by all his classmates for his ‘weird appearance’ and eats his lunch alone.

All of a sudden his classmate Summer joins him at his table saving him from total isolation. While another classmate Jack thinks she is really brave to have sat down with Auggie, Summer thinks she has only followed the precept taught in the class. On the surface it’s a small gesture but to Auggie it’s a monumental act of kindness and gives him the strength to deal with the bullying throughout the school year. Indeed there is much truth and power in any act of kindness.