Letter to the Editor

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Jack Nicholson, in the movie “A Few Good Men,” shot back at Tom Cruise as only he could do, with the unforgettable phrase, “You can’t handle the truth!”

Can we handle the truth?

When we were attending Dalton High School in Dalton, Georgia, during the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, there was an inspirational engraving above the entrance to our school that read: And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.

What a beautiful quotation (from the Bible, John 8:32). But knowing the truth is difficult, acknowledging the truth sometimes painful, and unlocking the power of truth a tremendous challenge. However, demanding, truth is essential in America’s quest for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Today, our lives are cluttered with misinformation. Our opinions and feelings toward one another have spiraled out of control into extreme polarizations of different points of view, creating divisions filled with hate and mistrust.

To put our country back on track, each of us must work much harder to know and respect the truth, debate issues, try to understand one another and work together to grow, learn and act responsibly as citizens of the United States of America. Members of our divided Congress must do the same, learning to work together on our behalf, not as politicians, but as statesmen and stateswomen, just as our forefathers intended.

Only then can we begin to understand, appreciate and become adept at handling the truth.  Only then can we hope to evolve into a united nation without today’s debilitating divisions, prejudices and mistrust. Only then can we aspire to truly become, as so eloquently expressed by Martin Luther King Jr. in his famous “I have a dream” speech, “Free at last, free at last…”