Crisis of Truth
“At times, I am deeply disturbed about the state of our society. But it is not so much about an impending public health disaster. It is about the crisis of truth in my country and to some extent throughout the world, which has the potential to make these disasters so much worse. We are living in an era in which information that is patently untrue gets repeated enough times that it becomes a part of our everyday dialogue and starts to sound true and in a time in which lies are normalized and people invent their own set of facts. We have seen complete fabrications become some people’s accepted reality…. What became even more clear to me was something I already knew: that the diversity in our country in its myriad forms- geographic, economic, cultural, racial, ethnic, and political- makes us an attractive and great country. It is when this diversity gives way to divisiveness that society suffers.” – Anthony Fauci M.D., On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service (pages 453-454)
“Knowledge eliminates fear.” This is a very common statement around our home. For me, this statement hits the nail on the head! Although there are occasions when I have to stop myself from “digging” for more.
Does knowledge eliminate fear for you? We all learn and live life in ways that are unique to how we were wired by our Amazing Creator. No doubt about that. There is some information and knowledge that I believe is a must know or be aware of, and then there is some information that I personally just dive into because I love learning.
Take the picture as an example today… Earlier this week I was gathering things in piles ADHD style, so I could “straighten” up my room/office area. When I sat down to take a break, I began to belly laugh as I looked at this stack of books. Over the past week I had received these all in the mail, from Thrift books, Bushel and Peck Books, and the Immune Deficiency Foundation. Bushel and Peck books is a company I recently found that offer many picture book true stories, and of course they had to have a major sale, and they had some from my wish list, what’s a girl to do?!? From Thrift Books I had earned a free book, which means I’ve bought more books than I can read😂, and so the Little Free Libraries book became available for a price that qualified for a free book- had to have! (free offers and gift cards don’t last long in my email or wallet!) I had requested information from the Immune deficiency foundation, the limit was five information packets, figured my family could all use these at some point. To my surprise they were thick, not just your normal information booklet, but a very helpful resource that is and will be a huge help in understanding some health issues in my family.
Two of the most significant lessons on taking responsibility for your own learning instilled in my brother and I growing up were:
- With support and help of those who love you, you are the only one who can know the best way your learn – whether visually, auditory, hands-on, reading and writing, independently, with others, in nature, with music, without music, through books or magazines or brochures or movies. You know the most suitable pace that you are capable of learning. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is not a negative character trait, but a extremely positive character trait.
- You must learn the art of being resourceful! Of course we were being taught this responsibility before the grand World Wide Web! My Paw-Paw was the first person in our family to own a computer with internet, and that was after I was in 2nd grade! So our training in being resourceful went a little like this: “Hey, what does _______ mean?” and the response would be, “Do I look like the dictionary?” or “I will not be your dictionary. Go look it up.” This latter statement was the point that was the bottom line lesson: you need to know how and where to find the answers, and not depend on others for every little thing. This also went for research and trash! “I will not be your encyclopedia.” Yes, we had my parents two sets of encyclopedias until I was in high school! I loved those things! We tried donating them to the library and they wouldn’t take them 😂😂😂 No one would be our trash dump either. This was usually the response: “Do I look like a trash can?” Again, taking responsibility for our own actions.
A few reasons I share this today:
- There are many kids going back to school, some who may not think a second thought about having to go to school, some who everyday is an uphill battle to comprehend at the pace that is “normal” or “up to grade level.” They all deserve to have a hunger and thirst for learning planted inside them. School can only do so much – we as communities, as parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, family, friends and neighbors – we have an equally important job to come alongside and help guide them in eventually taking responsibility for knowing the best way they learn and owning it, for finding the answers, facts, truths, and information in the correct and accredited places.
- Outside of school, I strongly believe, is where the training and equipping must happen for any progress to happen within schools. Principals, teachers, aides, coaches have very limited time. They can definitely make a huge mark in a child’s life, but they cannot be held fully responsible as many are in this society today.
- It is more important than ever to teach and guide our children, and ourselves honestly, how and where to find information. True facts. Truth period. There is as much misinformation as there is facts and truthful information being given out to them.
- When we teach and guide them that this is a personal responsibility, it’s teaching them that there is a much bigger world out there, we can inspire a hunger and thirst for something we don’t even see that may make their heart come completely alive!
- When we do this we are giving them the skills and freedom to discover, search, learn, obtain, retain in the right and healthy ways. Not so they will become overly focused but for the sake of being widely referenced and read.
- This responsibility is vital to their growth because it has the potential- even if it’s through a book, article, movie- to take you from your community and experiences, and into communities of others. Communities of the world, all backgrounds, ethnicities, culture, home life, childhoods, stories…
The excitement of guiding children to learn to open themselves up to a vast array of experiences, however that may look or sound or feel, is overwhelming to me. To get to know them, the way they learn, and then engage them – whether it be through books, or pictures, or music, or items from a certain place to explore with our senses – these moments are untouchable, irreplaceable.
For me as a kid magazines kept my attention. Both sets of grandparents gave me a subscription to a magazine every year – Highlights and American Girl – were the two I chose. And my precious grandparents continued these subscriptions for years after I graduated high school 😊 Which I really loved and so did the kids I kept! I learned and would actually read these magazines. My schoolwork reading, well that was a different story.
Another memory that I now know was preparing my love of learning and establishing my style of learning, was climbing in my Paw-Paw’s lap and doing hocus pocus (spot the difference) and then reading all the comics. He would keep the newspapers and we would sit and do this for hours. I still miss the newspaper comic days, when Sunday meant 6-8 pages of comic strips!
And I give an abundance of props to my parents for acknowledging my need to be home for high school. I would have drowned in all the required reading. Instead, I learned from my mom’s example of reading a wide variety of books. I love true stories- biographies, history, medicine, you name it- I love truth! 😊 Most of all I love children’s books, all of them! If you ever can’t find me, look in all the children’s sections of any local store! Or just find me in my children’s library ❤️
My encouragement to you today is this: the children in your life- observe and learn what they like, what they are drawn to, find out how they like to learn, and build on that. Find books, audible poetry or books or music, sensory things to discover, hands on experiences. Teach and guide them in finding the answers and truth in a safe and fun way. It will take some brain power- but it will be so worth it!
Life Book of the Week: (of course) On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service, by Anthony Fauci, M.D. Now I usually don’t make comments on my book of the week, but to bad this week I am. I will not be shy in saying I have a deep respect for Dr. Fauci. And I struggle a lot with the verbal harassment that he has had to endure. He is not perfect, neither am I, and neither are you. His story is so much bigger than AIDS and COVID. He has been apart of so many immunology research and labs that effect my health, my mom’s health, and I am sure many would be surprised effect their health! Public Service is a choice. You become the visual, the face of the organization. You become the target of criticism and the one who is credited with “breakthroughs.” You enter your job knowing these things. But as I have written about today, I have done my research for the truth (beyond reading his book!) – and there is nothing, absolutely nothing that this doctor has done to receive the verbal abuse that he has, nor the chants of “Kill Fauci!” He speaks truth when he says we are in a “crisis of truth” today. He admits that there was information that changed, hence science, and misguidance along the way, but truth was always priority. I strongly suggest you listen or read this book- a true mark on public service, that I am extremely grateful to have had in position during the pandemics of my lifetime- here and around the world.
A few resources to kick start your truth fact finding mission 😊
https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/constitution-101-course
https://www.nih.gov/institutes-nih/list-institutes-centers
Just a bit of info: Most of the NIH centers will guide you to foundations like the immune deficiency foundation, which is where I was able to request free information. I also discovered recently that the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has a massive amount of resources. So always check out foundations/society/clinics, they are wonderful places for resources! Another way I loved to learn- getting brochures on anything and everything on vacation 😊 Now I just collect them on medical information 😂
