No one has a monopoly on Truth. Not you or me. Not the politicians. Not members of the clergy. However, bits and pieces of Truth can be discovered, if we look in the right places. They should include:
1. Pogo (1948 – 1975). According to Wikipedia, “Pogo was the title and central character of a long-running daily comic strip created by Walt Kelly. Set in the Georgia section of the Okefenokee Swamp, Pogo often engaged in social and political satire through the adventures of the strip's funny animals.”
Pogo ran for president in 1952, 1956 and 1960; however, he didn’t care that he never received more than a few thousand write-in votes. His goal was to encourage everyone to vote, with this polite admonition: “If you can't vote my way, vote anyway, but VOTE!"
Of course, we remember Pogo most for his observation on Earth Day, 1971, that “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” Seems truthful, doesn’t it?
2. Yogi Berra. (1925 - present). This beloved baseball player, now 83, is able to make statements that both affirm and conflict with a point of view, but which we intuitively understand. When giving directions to his New Jersey home, he once told visitors “when you come to a fork in the road, take it.” On another occasion, he said “you can observe a lot just by watching.” Once, when asked if he wanted a personal pizza cut into four or eight pieces, he said, “Just cut it into four; I don’t think I can eat eight.” And in 1973, commenting on a baseball game, he remarked, “It ain’t over until it’s over.”
All of his statements are, of course, compellingly truthful.
3. H. L. Mencken (1880 – 1956). This Baltimore journalist wrote for the Baltimore Sun and also edited the American Mercury magazine. He is known for many satirical, sometimes biting observations about politics and society. On the subject of religion, he wrote in 1916 that “Puritanism is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” Three years later, in a magazine called the Smart Set, Mencken observed “The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos.” That is as true today as it was 89 years ago.
4. Dr. Seuss (1904 – 1991). Seuss is actually the middle name of Theodor S. Geisel, an American writer and cartoonist who wrote and illustrated 44 children’s books with such strange titles as The Cat in the Hat and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Dr. Seuss was always respectful of children, saying on one occasion that “a person is a person, no matter how small.” He was also pragmatic: “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” His grasp of Truth is further illustrated with this quote: “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”
5. Dr. Gregory House. This is the name of a television character, reputed to be a medical genius, who works as the head of diagnostic medicine at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. He is known for his quirky behavior and also for thought-provoking comments, including these:
“If you believe in Eternity, life is irrelevant.”
“I know there is no ‘I’ in team; there is a ‘me’ though, if you jumble it up.”
“I was never good at math, but next to nothing is greater than nothing.”
“Just because it’s inexplicated doesn’t mean it’s inexplicable.”
“The eyes can mislead, the smile can lie, but the shoes always tell the truth.”
The five sources I have cited in this column may or may not aid you in your quest for Truth, but at least they are a start. Do you know of better sources?