„My child, once, we were as one
You lost your way
From my promised land
Your fate was mine
Now I see the light
You won’t save me anymore
Save me anymore
Your lies made me understand“

The Lie – AfterLapse

Hello my dear reader,

it is high time for a new post on this blog, don’t you agree?

And yes, i know you might be waiting for the one about friendship i promised you and i am still working on that one. So please be a bit more patient for that one.

Today i like to talk about truth. Not like „The truth about me“ or „The truth about life“ or anything like that, but about my thoughts about this topic in general. And yes i am aware of the irony starting the post with an excerpt of a song called The Lie is not lost on me. I simply found the lyrics very fitting (i will post the link for the whole lyrics and the song at the end of the post for you). This post is a bit like a sequel to my previous post „Walking down your own path.“ 

Before i dig deeper into the topic i like to talk about the image i used. As it is not really showing what i intended but somehow i could not find the right prompt to enter into the digital creator. So if any of you readers is talented and like to help me out in creating what i had in mind please let me know. And maybe if i describe it to you you can imagine it in your mind. I actually liked AI to paint a picture that shows a white shore and a black shore, divided by a river in different scales of grey and a colorful bridge connecting the two shores. Got it? Very good, so lets start:

What is truth? 

„Truth = the true facts about something, rather than the things that have been invented or guessed“ (Oxford Dictionary)

In this case, can we agree that it is true that cars drive on the right side of the road? I can see those of you living eg in German, France or Italy nodding. Those of you over in the UK might be like „no, they drive on the left side.“ So what is the truth now? Do they drive on the right or left side? 

When we grow up we are often told stories of the good people and the bad people. Like the brave hero in a fairytale rescuing the damsel in distress from the evil. And if you have been raised in a christian household you of course have the good guys like Jesus and the angels and the bad guys like the devil and the demons. But is the truth always so simple? Is there only black and white? Or are there shades of grey in between? It might not surprise you that when i was little i was always a bit more interested in the „evil“ characters. What is their back story, what made them the way they are? (Quick shout out to my colleagues from work with whom i had a discussion this week if Thor or Loki is the more interesting character.) 

One fairytale that really vexes me is Rumpelstiltskin. Remember the millers daughter whose father told the king she could spin straw to gold? The one that has been helped by a limp and in exchange promises him her first born child? Well, she ends up marrying the kings son and the limp ends up dead. The roles of who is good and who is bad are made very clear. I always tend to disagree as in my eyes the miller maybe should not have told the king that his daughter can spin gold. And instead of tricking the poor limp (who by the way is described to live in a hut in the woods) they could have invited him to live with them in the castle. And for those of you who will now tell me that he wanted to eat the baby: they could have offered him food instead. Like a life time supply of chicken or veal. Okay i better stop now before i will start a „justice for Rumpelstiltskin petition“. And i think you got the gist. 

Maybe you now will say that my thoughts are stupid but hey – here is a fact: this is my truth. Simple as that. You might have another one, but this is mine. Just like i think the lyricist of AfterLapse had different thoughts in mind when he wrote „The lie“. Does this make my interpretation wrong? Or is it just an „alternative truth?“

Let me tell you a quick story: not long ago i was asked into my bosses office as i have allegedly been visiting a concert in Austria while being on sick leave. Funny enough someone in my family also accused me of being abroad, as her sister had told her she saw my post on the internet.  What had happened was that i shared a memory about a trip i took one year ago. The words „one year ago in Innsbruck“ and „memories“ have been clearly written on the picture, but maybe not clearly enough. It is so easy today to publish something that is utter bullshit (with this i mean absolutely invented) and people will believe it. Fake a picture with photoshop, use filters … it all becomes someones truth in an instant. 

We all believe certain things to be the truth. And so i was quite shocked recently when something i always considered as something “evil” was not so evil at all. And instead maybe a really good thing. Asking myself where this belief of the evilness came from i did not even had different reason than “i have always been told so”. So i started to find out more facts and then to re-evaluate.

Which brings me to the purpose of this post: it is not to convince you to see the world like i do but instead it’s some small requests from me to you. Please do not stand just on one shore, be open minded to find out if there is indeed some grey in-between black and white (and who knows maybe even some color). Please find out your own truth in this universe, don’t be afraid to question things others tell you to be good or bad, find your own facts and make up your own mind. Please accept if someone is living a different truth to yours (which i know sounds much easier than it actually is). Please do not judge before assembling your own facts. Or put simple: please walk your own path.

Hope to read you soon again

A.

P.S. If you like the overall topic there are two things you could check out aswell. One is an video on Youtube (unfortunately only in german) with Chris Harms, singer of the band Lord of the Lost who is having a conversation with a priest about the role of Judas (the one who according to the bible betrayed Jesus for a few silver coins). The other one is an American fantasy series called Once upon a time – which portraits different fairy tale characters in an absolute different shade of light.

AfterLapse - The Lie
"I bow my head in shame
Sinful tears I shed
Oh, I repent
Feels like walking on the edge
Hanging by a thread 
Nowhere left to hide
- I can take your pain away
- All those dreams I had
- I can take your blame away
- All the things I ever planned
- Follow me I'll lead the way
- Should I leave it all behind to
Find the light in his embrace
I will be the breath for the fallen
My child, come, we'll be as one
Just take my hand
We'll leave far away
Your fate is mine
Set the course to take
I'm here to stay 
and do as you say
Forever
Set the course to take
I will obey
No more tears in vain
I'll take the strain
To hold what is left
Forever 
No more tears in vain
I'll run away
I will be the breath for the fallen
My child, come, we'll be as one
Just take my hand
We'll leave far away
Your fate is mine
Breath for the fallen
My child, once, we were as one
You lost your way
From my promised land
Your fate was mine
Now I see the light
You won't save me anymore
Save me anymore
Your lies made me understand"