Let’s focus on how we uphold the truth day to day

All my life, I’ve loved watching television news. I grew up listening to Walter Cronkite. He cried when he told us that President John F. Kennedy was dead. He beamed while he narrated Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon. During the hostage crisis in Iran, I hung on every word Cronkite said. Like the rest of the country, I trusted him to tell me the truth about things that mattered and to help me understand what they meant.

It was a simpler time, I suppose — at least in terms of what I understood about TV ratings and putting truth in journalism under a microscope. Were the daily body counts during the war in Vietnam accurate, and did they prove we were winning the war? That’s what we were told, although history now has a different analysis. Should I have trusted Walter Cronkite less?

Two months ago, Brian Williams, anchor of NBC’s “Nightly News,” admitted that he’d written something in his book that wasn’t strictly true. He’s paying the price with a six-month suspension without pay.

Now, I think there are at least two sides to every story, and I’m not trying to start an argument about what Williams did. While I still watch evening news on television, I realize that most younger people get their news from the Internet.

And the Internet can be vicious, getting people up in arms who otherwise might not even have noticed the story.

I won’t dispute that Williams exaggerated his experience for dramatic effect, but it doesn’t bother me as much as it seems to bother a lot of other people. I’ve also known plenty of preachers to use a story as a sermon illustration without fully researching it because its emotional impact hits home. Entire websites make it easy to find these stories. That doesn’t bother me, either.

What I care more about is how we handle truth in day-to-day circumstances. How do we hold truth at the center of the relationships that form the backbone of our normal lives — our friends, family, coworkers?

It has been said that a half-truth is a whole lie. It’s easy to skirt the truth or stretch it until it is unrecognizable. This happens subtly. Relational dynamics may influence us to treat truth in ways that serve the purpose of

the moment. We do real harm if we are not truly focused on how we uphold truth while also tending relationships.

Truth is not always easy to speak or easy to hear, and I’m not saying that it should be served cold. Truth without love can be painful. But love that speaks the truth is never wrong. For me, this view rules every facet of my life. Trust me, it has taken much of my life to get to this place, but I am now clear that this approach works best, at least for me. Mark Twain wrote, “When in doubt, tell the truth.” I believe this is true wisdom.

I actually hope Williams returns to the air. He is funny and entertaining, and I suspect he has learned his lesson. We should all get a second chance. After all, truth is not only about getting the facts right; it is also about getting the meaning right. Without forgiveness, none of has a chance of doing that.