Roughly what portion of people who claim to want the truth do you think can handle it? Few? Some? Most?

I wrote many want the truth, but few can handle it in the 1990s, when there was no social media or the Internet as we know it today. I was in my 20s, and starting to realize many of the subtle realities of life through development of better people observation skills. I was more observant about what people said, how they said it, what they did about it or not, and especially the difference among it all. As I write these notes for this quote in July 2020, amidst global protests against Black and systemic racism, during the global CoViD-19 pandemic, in the fight to eliminate identifiable fake news, especially on social media in an ever divisive world, my belief that many want the truth, but few can handle it has never been stronger.

In most situations I’ve observed this millennium where people claimed to want the truth, I’ve found myself doubting most could handle it if they got it, especially fully. I am among those people in some circumstances. It didn’t take long for me to realize that after initially judging others, then going to find more truths than and realizing my threshold for truth was only more than theirs, but still far incapable of handling the whole truth. What was hard to handle included my roles or complicity, through direct action, indirect action like financial support to buy some products, or inaction not to protest or speak out more. This applied to matters like systemic racism and other discrimination despite me being a visible minority, and environmental harm despite me generally being an environmentalist.

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This post is one of 70 quotes I wrote, each with an accompanying essay, in my e-book and paperback Stars I Put in my Sky to Live By, on Amazon or Smashwords (choose your price including free!).