Tag: A Few Good Men

The Good Guys

Happy Father’s Day!

Here’s to all of the good guys out there and there is a lot more of them out there, then the media wants to portray. Here’s to all of the good guys who are devoted to their families, who love their wives and provide for their kids. Here’s to all of the good guys who make sure that their families are safe, protected and warm. Here’s to all of the good guys who lovingly keep up their homes and always offer a helping hand to their friends and neighbors. Here’s to all of the good guys who serve our communities, our countries, and our God. Here’s to all of the good guys who attend yet another little sluggers game that their child or grandchild is playing in, versus playing another round of golf. Here’s to all of the good guys who have devoted their lives to a bigger cause (their families, their purposeful work, their duties and responsibilities) than just their own personal wants and needs. Here’s to all of the good guys out there! There are a ton of you! I am married to one. We see you all every day. We don’t say thank you. We take you for granted until one jerk messes up and then we lump you in with the “jerks.” But I know that there are a lot more good guys out there than there are jerks. Good guys just quietly, graciously, go about doing their thing – being strong, silent, devoted men without crying out for attention or gratitude. Good guys don’t finish last. Good guys last. Good guys are solid. They last through turmoil, upheaval, all of the highs and lows of life, and they do this all stably, with strong, firm chins and a vision for the future. Here’s to all of the good guys! We see you. We appreciate you and everything that you do for us.

You Can’t Handle the Truth

There has been so much in the news these days about dishonesty, “fake news”, spin doctors, and distorting the truth.  I found a couple of quotes about lying that made a lot of sense to me:

“Truth is completely spontaneous.  Lies have to be taught.” – Buckminster Fuller

“The advantage of telling the truth is that you don’t have to remember what you said.” – Rita Mae Brown

The older I get, the more important the absolute truth has become to me.  Jack Nicholson’s character in the movie A Few Good Men, famously shouted, “You can’t handle the truth!”

But honestly, that just isn’t true.

The truth always comes to light.  What is done in darkness, always comes to light.  So when we lie, not only does the person or entity who we lied to have to “handle” the uncovered truth, they also have to “handle” that they trusted someone who lied to them.

“Every lie is two lies – the lies we tell others and the lie we tell ourselves to justify it.” – Robert Brault

I feel like a sick-in-my-stomach teenager just writing this post.  There are few things in the world that make you sicker to your stomach than lying and/or being lied to by someone you trust.  We all probably can remember that feeling when a parent or an authority figure or someone we loved deeply looked at us with grave disappointment and stated that they did not know when they would be able to trust us again to tell them the truth, after we told them a careless, hurtful lie.

“Telling lies and being deceitful takes so much more energy than being honest and sincere.” – Stephen Aitchison

I wish that we all had to the courage to live our truths, be our truths, and honor our truths.  Everyone is so concerned about what other people think about them, how they are being perceived and what persona to take on, in order to get the things they think that they want in life.  Lying is a natural outcome when we are living other people’s ideas of who we should be.  If we are living in truth, emboldening the truth, then it follows that lying would not be possible.  Truth and authenticity would be our only way.  Frankly, there are many people who we don’t particularly like in life, but we respect and trust them because we know firmly where they stand.  I would rather be a respected and trusted person, than a popular false persona whose choices and thoughts change on the whims of others’ impressions of me.

“A liar will not be believed when he speaks the truth.” – Aesop