# 2 Truth Is Like A Rubber Band

Well now, many are the times when my Babbler is hard at work doing his thing. Brought up to conscious mind are various thoughts that have accumulated over the years, and for some reason, Babbler is winnowing through these thoughts for answers to clear the muddy waters. Thoughts that I wrestle with and seemingly, resolve to my satisfaction, won't solve world problems, but helps in quieting Babblers incessant chatter. While I feel that I got fair control of Babbler, he can sure stir-up the kettle of "what's this thought all about?".Just the other day Babbler raised the issue of "Truth". So I just poked around and pondered about "what is truth!". My first thought was "truth is like a rubber band and about as solid as a handful of smoke". One thought led to another, somewhat in this fashion.There can be many Truths. (Say what! Isn't true, truth? Asks Babbler.) Not exactly, as, each person sees "Truths" through their own "eyes" and "feeling tones", making truth a variable for each person. (Ya, but isn't the color red for instance, red to everyone, asks the Babbler) Well, not exactly Babbler, not all people see color the same, so no, the color red is not necessarily seen as red, by all people. ( What are you saying, that the color red is not the color red, asks Babbler ) Will keep it simple and just say that color is based on hue, saturation and brightness and that all color is a frequency. Altering any one of those attributes, affects how one sees that color, the same process applies to truth. On top of all that, we each have our own perfections or imperfections if you will, that affects what one perceives as truth or sees as color. (All I asked was, what is truth, why are you off on a color tangent, inquirers Babbler). Patience now Babbler, perhaps you’ll understand that after I'm done here. Truth is also connected to another theme. (Exasperated, Babbler asks "oh boy, here we go again, what is this one about!). It's called "swearing in, a witness.". (Babbler comes back with " What! Are we going to start cussing now?") Oh, stop it now and listen. It's a process where a person is asked to raise their right hand and answer the question of: "do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." We can also toss in ones upbringing, education, religion, age and a few other conditions. (Thoroughly frustrated, Babbler says. "Boy oh boy, you are really something, all I did was ask about truth, and you're all over, into themes, sayings and even to doing a little swearing) All-right Babbler, here's how I see truth, "Truths will adjust or stretch, to accommodate a given situation". I've heard that it's unusual for any group of people involved in or describing what was heard or seen, for a given situation, to have 100% agreement on what was seen or heard. That my dear Babbler, is what I'm leading too, about truth. Let's for instance, take a hypothetical accident situation, witnessed by 10 people. Let's further say, that this group of people, are a mix, of male, female, and range in age from nine to eighty, and that it is also early evening, and it is raining lightly, and that there are traffic monitoring cameras at this busy intersection. So now the police arrive and start taking statements from the 10 witnesses. Each witness, described ,where they were and what they saw at the time of the accident. Upon reviewing the traffic monitoring cameras tape, a police officer wrote the following report: crossing the street, one female Hispanic approximately 15 years of age, carrying a brown and white dog. Also observed on that tape, is a tan and black Ford pickup running a red traffic control, signal light, striking a blue and gray four-door Chevrolet, that causes the Chevrolet to strike the Hispanic child crossing the street, knocking this child off her feet. Keep in mind that this is a hypothetical accident situation. Now enters an insurance adjuster to review all of this information. So what we have here now, is a videotape of the accident, and 10 witness statements. Of the 10 witness statements, there are only a few details that match the actual accident situation as shown on the videotape.Now Babbler, here are my questions, "if all 10 witnesses saw the same accident, described the same scene from where they were positioned at the time, why would only a few details match the actual accident situation? So as mentioned earlier, red is not necessarily red, and truth is not necessarily true. Did someone lie! Not necessarily, most probable, is that all are true, "but only for the person making the statement."So Babbler, you see "truth is a variable that can be quite different for everyone".