Help
Sign In
prayer
April 2009 
Telling the Truth
Posted on Apr 9th, 2007
by 
Cre8beauty
Cre8beauty
If you don't read The Sun, you should check it out. It's a fantastic example of original, thought provoking consciousness alive in the media today. (yes, there is such a thing). Something my students and I devour from it every month are the short narratives written by the readers. We use them for prompts in class as well. Here is one I sent in (or will when I get to the post office today) :
As a high school teacher, everyday I am given excuses. They come in all shapes and sizes:
I'm late because my alarm never went off. Because so and so drives to slow. We had to stop because there were two grizzly bears mating in the middle of the road!
I don't have that paper because my computer has a crazy virus. We have no paper in our house, and no stores are open on Sundays. I fell asleep while typing my essay, and my forehead accidentally pressed the delete button when my head hit the keyboard.
As a teacher, I hear lies of all kinds. And maybe some of my students are actually telling the truth. I don't really know. I do know, however, that I try so tenaciously to find the truth behind their words. The truth they may or may not yet be able to verbalize:
Ms. W I didn't do my homework because I'm sixteen and just figuring out this life thing, and responsibility isn't quite something I have perfected yet. Or: I'm sixteen and my paper came second to my heart--which is scattered throughout the pockets of the gossiping girls in this school. How can I focus on homework when my worst fears are becoming my reality? Or: Ms. W I'm learning how to live life for me. to not always do the right thing. to make mistakes.
And maybe these aren't examples of telling the truth either. But at the very least, they are the lies I am willing to believe.
Access: Public
once they feel comfortable with you they won't lie to you anymore…they'll just lie to someone else, unless of course you taught them something…about lying.
It’s funny how some kids lie to get out of things, while others are so painfully honest. One of my pointless duties at my school is to sign in late students. Most of them, regardless of the real cause of their tardiness, will write “overslept.” Ever so often, though, I get a student who will pause for several minutes, ponder of his/her tardiness, and then fill the entire box with the real story.
Often times, it doesn’t matter either way, and perhaps kids just find it easier to tell a lie than the whole sordid truth. I have a little fable about that. Perhaps I’ll share it with you someday soon.
what a brutal paradox, this whole lying/lying to one's self thing.
is there any preferred way you've noticed works better?
“Truth” changes with time, as you grow, as you evolve … which of course contradicts that Truth should be immutable.
So, Ms. W, thank you for sharing yours.