Devious people say the right things. They are articulate and smooth. Unless discovered, their lies ring true with confidence and sincerity. What’s true for them today will remain true until it’s no longer convenient for them.
Authentic people say what’s on their minds. They can be charming but are frequently in trouble for saying too much of their truth. They are sometimes inarticulate but clear in their meanings. What they say today is likely to be true tomorrow too.
Devious people can make us feel comforted, believing that we’re going to get what we want because they said so. Of course, we only get ultimately what they want, whatever lies within their hidden agendas. Their true nature and personalities are well hidden from all but their retinue of sycophants.
The authentic person is going to tell us what we’re going to get, what the best we can expect, even if it isn’t what we want to hear. But at least, we can be ready for it because they will do just that if humanly possible. They are self-revealing, often embarrassingly so, but it is who they are, because they are authentic.
Devious people make great elected politicians. Not great leaders, but they don’t care. They will define for us what the meaning of “Is” is and then say, “What difference does it make anyway!”
The authentic person seldom needs much definition. Sometimes their meanings aren’t clear but their intentions and results are.
For many years it’s been mostly the devious politicians who are the ones we elect because the electorate can’t handle the truth. The don’t even want to hear it. The sad truth, when later revealed and experienced can be blamed on someone or something else anyway.
But then, after a long enough time, the voters realize they never heard the truth. Oh, that can take years, but after awhile, they can be jolted awake by the voice of authenticity, crude though it may be.
That forceful authentic voice is often attempted in the political realm, but cannot be sustained for the truth is too painful. But after the years of broken promises, suddenly the sea of lies begins to part when the authentic voice becomes loud and truthful.
For those who are seeking the truth, the reality check, that hot air of authenticity becomes like a cool mist until…
The inarticulate truth teller often tells all the truth — but it looks like an accident because it’s so blatantly awful and even personal. The authentic person reveals his truth and true self, even when it’s harsh or unenviable. Why? Because he is authentic.
The devious politician may have deep and even horrible intentions, but the voters will seldom get a look at those. And even when they disclose the truth by accident or through their foes, their assistants are at the ready to cover up and obfuscate the accidental truths, sometimes by whatever means necessary.
The devious person is almost always politically correct. The authentic person is the most likely candidate for political incorrectness because the truth to that person will be exposed, like it or not.
Not so deep down, the human psyche craves a comforted future. Many are lulled by the synchronized talking points of the devious untruthful tellers.
It’s always darkest before we awake but the light sometimes comes too late to show the truth that clashed so harshly with the wishes and the false but promised hopes of the devious.
The next morning in America may be the smoking ruins of hope that was fueled by the dark lies that we mistook for a distant sunrise.
America is about to become the victim of false hope or the victor of honesty. The latter will propel her into a new tomorrow that can only be achieved with the conscious repair of the deviant behavior that is better left in the rear-view mirror of reality.
So, comfort or truth? That decision will be our future.