An old story says that a gossip was churning out very tasty bits of inside information and ran out of it. Eager listeners begged, “More! Tell us more!” To which was this reply, “I can’t! I’ve already told you more than I know myself!”

I’m going to muse about why we never get the complete story on anything.

In my work in an office I was frequently the go to source for remedy to software and hardware malady. Getting a grasp of the scope and nature of a problem becomes an art because of the way it’s reported.

“Everybody is down! We’re off network.”

Translation: someone kicked the switch on their surge protector and one workstation shut off.

“There is a ghost in my computer. It’s doing all sorts of things. It took over my mouse and everything!”

As I was dumping steaming coffee out of her keyboard of coffee I asked this person if they had spilled any. “no”. Stupid ghost. This same user was frequently shut out of her computer by a keyboard lock which was just a key on the keyboard. Press it a second time and you get your keyboard back. She never mastered it. Thank goodness there was a tech whiz in the 0ffice. This same employee decided it would be nice to take some time off and collect unemployment insurance money during her move out of the area so she quit and then claimed she was driven out because we don’t like older people. We showed that over half the rest of the crew was older than  her and some had been there since President Lincoln. So she was denied. She claimed we were anti woman but the demographics spoiled that argument also. Finally she got a doctor to write that the stress of the company was such that she would have to take time off so she was granted the unemployment.  Win some, lose some. Corruption just wants it’s goodies.

Fiction is biography and auto biographies are fiction. So true statement! If you want to tell your story, write a work of fiction. If you want to paint a fanciful legacy, write a glowing self bio.

An honest biography with all the pertinent detail seems just about impossible though even for the best of us. If some member of the family or personal culture takes liberties with the weak or unprotected, it may never come to light in your biography because of a sensible desire not to embarrass the victim. You don’t mention the mischief in a way that identifies the culprit.

On the other hand, a vengeful accuser may enthusiastically reveal all sorts of troubles that actually never happened so as to parlay the gullibility of some and the unwitting loyalty of others into lasting hits against someone they want to bring down. How is anyone going to sort the imbalance out? The dog that never barked was never heard. I saw a video staged by two lads who borrowed some very fast very capable road cars. They installed speakers and when they took off from intersections where they’d stopped, they drove just under the limit but played the sound track so that it sounded like they were racing. They got pulled over. They brought it on themselves, but that illustrates that the principle works no matter the source.  Political candidates count on this.

None of this is necessary, but this is earth. It happens.

In the “News” the truth may be a scarce commodity. In people’s private lives it may be scarce also. I read a comment where a woman claimed that the men of a certain country only fall back on the truth when lies don’t work. I’ve met such people. You don’t believe it until you see it, which is a strange way to describe a reaction to a liar.

I was just thinking of the obnoxious slant that has been part of the reporting scene a long time now and is rampant. Reading or listening to news is like dining from an eatery not subject to health regulations or inspection. Expect to find hair in the news you consume, metaphorically.

People live by flavor. They go from ‘like’ to ‘like’ and from one delicious rage to another. They literally pick their political candidates by how that candidate makes them feel. Remember that a con man is successful by capitalizing on this. Con means Confidence. Once someone has your confidence, they have you because you reduce your level of scrutiny. Bad things follow.

Then there are the drum beaters. They start harping on some issue that irks them. They paint it on thick, rife with baloney, always they are concerned “for the children”. I remember this one. She was a tool of the opposition party and behaved consistent with the pattern. Gads I got tired of her face. Cindy Sheehan was the name she went by during her extended utility as a rebel tool.

I’ve wondered sometimes what I’d do if I knew everything about everyone. Would I barricade myself in the house? Would I carry a gun, a knife, and a mouse trap? Could I sleep at night? Would I laugh or or would I clam up when I interacted with someone who was unaware of my complete familiarity with them? I would hope that I’d conduct myself well.

I guess then I’d know who to avoid. But I don’t have that edge. Knowing the heart of strangers is made difficult by profiles. If you have read obituaries or singles-on-the-prowl profiles, which both read identically, you know that everyone likes candle light dinners, walks along the beach, camping, and their dogs. Or cats, if it’s a cat lady. Or frogs, owls, snakes, fish, birds, hamsters, turtles, and opossums found on the road that must be nursed to health before being released to try again.

The profiles and public persona and even the private face of many will reflect a desire to land someones trust. So certain things like a gambling addiction, sex cravings that involve pepper, food abuse, disgusting hygiene, or criminality don’t get mentioned in a bid for intimate trust until that uncomfortable confrontation with the law or others.

Sweet Granny by day, militant PETA warrier by night. Upstanding citizen in public, virulent  narcissist at home. It’s a mine field when you deal with people. Eventually you have to decide whether to just distrust everyone or not. Security is one of those matters whose rules you eventually tweak to survive, or you depend on luck. One approach is to trust no one. A bit at a time you grant trust. Another approach is to trust but verify. And another is to trust like a child and cry like a child, if you survive. I prefer the approach of giving limited trust, to the extent necessary then adding too or pulling back that trust as facts suggest to be necessary.

Here are the things that used to pretty much allow a pass: Pretty face. Nice personality. Sweet voice. Praise. Sweet behavior.  Trusted position of authority. Trusted position of relations.

Pretty faces are on quite a variety of souls, many of which have fallen back to a reliance on it’s disarming effects on people.  Faces and souls don’t necessarily match.

Nice initial personality, sweet voice, praise, interest, and enthusiasm have nothing whatever to do with the quality of the soul they’re fronting for. Strange but true. I’m not expert in this. I do like when I’m engaged in a portrait sketch and the face I map to express the portrait is attractive in it’s own right but the spirit behind it shines angelic. It’s the reason to do recreational portrait art. Other times I just can’t match the face with the person I’m trying to draw and I fail in the sketch. Doesn’t mean they’re a bad person, just that there’s a mismatch I can’t resolve. I should improve.

Another saying, “where you stand on an issue depends on where you sit.” So true for so many! As a result, people can be bought. If you work for the dog leash company then you aren’t going to go around stumping for the free roam crowd. If you work for a doctor whose stock and trade is something abominable, you aren’t likely to promote or even consider the views of those who think he’s wrong. You’ll fight them along with him. Maybe you’ll get a bonus on your paycheck in so doing.  My opinion is that one’s stand on any matter should be aligned with truth and what is right. Loyalties that do not compromise those are fun and healthy.  Too many people are for sale though. From them you will not get the whole story, but expect endorsement of whatever they’re selling or benefiting from with contrary facts swept out of sight by them.

I’m guilty of some of this. There are things I won’t divulge so as to protect the innocent. In that respect, the bad players can get a pass when they could be revealed. Now we’re back to what if we knew everything.

Well what if everyone else knew everything? Peace is living so that if someone could stroll the corridors of your mind and look in on any room in your brain they’d either have more respect or at least not feel like running for the exit and meanwhile you won’t be cringing with a hope they don’t find “that room”.

Professional Spokesman for Politician. “Spox”

We’ve probably all been lied about but it’s pointless to work at persuading someone who has bought into some fictional account that they were fed. In many cases people will cling to the false narrative when the truth is equally available to them. They keep the story they want.
People frequently tell more than they know and believe more than is true. It’s a human thing. Nasty, awful, but common.

I hope I’m never guilty of buying the false narratives to the peril of any innocent soul, but they’re not easy to flush out. They are so dang plausible sometimes.

When that day comes where the secret thoughts and actions of every soul is brought to light, I certainly hope I’ve conducted myself such that the reaction of others is, “wow. I hope we get to be neighbors!” Forever is a long time if you elect to be substandard. It’s not nearly long enough if you’re of full merit.

We’ll get the whole story eventually. Meanwhile, what we learn is never the complete facts.