Human beings are story tellers, and often they don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story. I’m guessing Brian Williams will resign or lose his job for his embellishments — as he should because he has hurt the whole news department at NBC. On the other hand, the world would be a dull place if people always meticulously stuck to the truth.
One of my favorite memories is of my father’s eulogy. The fellow who gave it hadn’t known my father personally, but he had interviewed my family and my father’s friends to get a good feeling for what my father was like. The speaker did a masterful job, and I’ll always be grateful to him. The eulogy was warm and friendly, and it made us laugh. The part I’ll always remember was about how my father loved to grow tomatoes and prided himself on them. He always shared them with his friends, so one year when his crop wasn’t as good as usual he was generous enough to drive miles to get some of the high-quality ones his friends were expecting. Everyone laughed at that story, of course, because my father had never mentioned he hadn’t raised those tomatoes himself.
No, I majored in science because it tries to understand things and values the truth. But stretching the truth has its place too.
February 7, 2015
Yes, stretching the truth, getting the story accepted, get congratulated for it AND getting away with it is the most satisfying experience.
I thought of you when I was writing this post. 😉
what a heart warming and charming story about your father.
not wanting to disappoint his friends. but see… it’s all in perspective.
someone who didn’t know him might think it was done purely out of pride and saving face. which was clearly NOT the case.
the marine had this take on it… we were discussing it yesterday on a trip to tulsa.
not verbatim here… but he thinks it’s because “everybody now… the whole world it seems … wants to be SPECIAL. they want to be celebrities. and if they’re celebrities they want to STAND OUT from the rest.” i said we’ve always had that though.
he said “yes. but now it’s a national epidemic. and the press eggs it on. haven’t you noticed? you’re no longer a ‘soldier’ you’re a HERO … just for wearing the uniform.
fire fighters just doing their jobs are HEROS. soldiers who are not killed are now WOUNDED WARRIORS. these titles are thrown around whether the person deserves them or not. it’s not good. it causes an inflated sense of the truth. and it becomes more and more accepted until there is no credibility for the real thing.”
i replied that it’s probably just part of the video game mentality we live with today.
and that if they’re wounded… well. he said people came back from ALL wars missing arms and legs and worse and nobody called them ‘warriors.’ you were simply doing your job. following orders. and you either got lucky or you didn’t.
he has little regard for any politician or newscaster or such! LOLOL.
just a different take on it. he makes me think.
it’s like little boys… my plane is BIGGER! our mission was more DANGEROUS!!!
they just grow taller. not necessarily up.
I have a feeling my father laughed at the joke while he was doing it.
I agree with your brother, and I’m not surprised at the “you were simply doing your job.” He has a strong sense of duty and doesn’t do things for the praise of others. He reminds me of Gibbs, who more than once has rejected praise by saying, “Just doing my job.” Semper Fi.
true.
and he even bears an amazing physical likeness to gibbs. !!!
that’s actually why i started watching it years ago.
i stopped though when ziva left.
Kaitlin and Torben almost stopped watching after Ziva left, but they decided to stick with it. The writers have done a good job with the new girl — I’m watching Season 11 now, and I still like it.
I guess it would be like, if you were a wonderful baker and every time there was an event to “take a plate” (which here means bring finger food to share) and you always bought the most delicious goodies…then one time you ran out of time, but you didn’t want to disappoint so you called into the local bakery and bought one of theirs…hoping no one would notice the difference. It would be easy to decant it from the cardboard/cake box onto your usual plate…
Haven’t had the occasion to that but I know of people who have!