The Power of Honesty and Integrity for Unity and Respect
by Rev. Karen Fitz La Barge
Whirrrrrrrr……………..sploosh! My bobber dived into the lake and disappeared for a fraction of a second and then it bounced up to the surface like a child eager for ice cream. The red and white wobbling globe did not tread water long until it vanished again, signaling that a hungry bluegill was nabbing my worm as his take-out supper. As I whipped my pole toward the sky in the fisherman’s favorite salute, my hands automatically started to reel in the taut and trembling line. With a feint to the left, and then my step to the right, the pole bent in homage as I lifted the weight of a glorious fish up out of its watery accommodations. It was caught and slowly spinning and swinging in the warm golden air of the summer evening light. It was a beautiful thing.
But how big was this fish that was now dangling from the end of my line? How many inches from lip to tip of tail was this flopping creature that gasped at the indignity of being so rudely interrupted during his dinner? No one was here, there was nobody around to bear witness. The smile in my mind increased as I contemplated the number that I should report for this fish that I would soon release and set free. It looked to be about 6”. Or was it closer to 9”? If I said that it was 11” would anyone question my story? What harm would there be to stretch the truth and the size of the fish to enlarge my ego and entertain everyone? After all, exaggeration has long been expected from fishermen, with the slippery fish of truth growing bigger with every telling of the tale. The fish would become as large as I said it was. It would be my alternate fact and my own personal truth that I can self-righteously claim in my own pursuit of happiness in my own personal alternative reality. Telling this big lie would so greatly amuse me.
But despite the size that I wanted my fish to be, there was indeed another truth, a definitive truth that was available. There WAS an actual physical and real size to my catch. The tape measure in my tacklebox was a universally accepted standard of truth. The truth was simple, it was real and it was easily accessible to me. I did not need to guess, or estimate or even to speculate that the fish could possibly be larger than it seemed to be. I needed only to submit myself to the readily available real truth of the tape measure in order to see it.
While the world may claim that truth is overrated and may tempt us with the fiction that lies are more fun and potentially more personally beneficial, there is a different and a higher standard that Christians are called to follow. In John 8:31-32 Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Truthfulness and accurate information are the foundations of authentic and stable relationships. Truth builds trust. The personal integrity of truth telling invites increasing responsibility and the opportunity to change systems. Living within a culture of constantly checking and testing for truth, people become more reliable and there is less division and more unity. By committing ourselves to the pursuit of truth, no matter how disappointing or mundane, we become the sort of people that we want to spend time with. We also become the people that our children and grandchildren will admire and want to emulate.
But lies tend to twist out of control. The fish could easily grow in the retelling of the tale until became too large. Then, it would snap the line of believability and no longer fit in any net of credibility. The truth would sink to the lake bottom, an expensive but lost lure to virtue that rusts and contaminates everything it touches.
As I pulled out my tape measure and measured the fish on the grass beside me, the thrill of my beautiful and glorious catch got away. A six-inch bluegill does not make for an impressive fish story. But I chose the slippery fish of truth, which is the biggest and most impressive catch of all.
Article printed in the Rockford Squire Newspaper, August 1st 2024
