My Truth is not Your Truth

My facts are not your facts

Please forgive the (hopefully extremely) exaggerated example, but let’s start with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

[Again, apologies that this draft was started BEFORE the events of October 7, 2023. However, considering the extremely unfortunate current state of affairs, this example is even more important.]

There are many Israelis who ‘KNOW’ that ALL Palestinians want to kill Israeli babies.

There are many Palestinians who ‘KNOW’ that ALL Israelis want to kill Palestinian babies.

This is what they were taught.

This is what they learn on the street.

This is even learned from people they respect.

This is from an "official" book.

This is from a trusted news source.

But it’s not true.

If you meet someone who supports Israel, odds are very good that they do NOT believe that all Israelis want to kill Palestinian babies. However if that is what you ‘KNOW’ about Israel, then you will be disliking this person for no valid reason. You will be hating for no reason.

Yes, there are some Israelis who have done some very bad things. There are some Israelis who think and want some very bad things. But supporting Israel does NOT mean you support those very bad things.

If you meet someone who supports Palestine, odds are very good that they do NOT believe that all Palestinians want to kill Israeli babies. However if that is what you ‘KNOW’ about Palestine, then you will be disliking this person for no valid reason. You will be hating for no reason.

Yes, there are some Palestinians who have done some very bad things. There are some Palestinians who think and want some very bad things. But supporting Palestine does NOT mean you support those very bad things.

Please click here when you get a chance: Forgive my bad language

When someone is defending somebody/something that you KNOW did horrible things … that person you are hating probably does not “know” the same “facts” as you.

My guess is that many of us have friends, friends that we consider good people, who totally disagree with us on very important political issues.

How is this possible? "My friend is such a good person!". It is probably because you have both been taught different "Truths". From a different person, place, book, or news station.

There is a good chance that if you really put in the effort and spent the time to really explore the issues, you may find you have more common ground than you thought. Of course this will take a LOT of effort and a LOT of patience. It is so easy to ignore or gloss over the "opposing facts".

OK, this section is getting pretty long.

But we're discussing a really important point!

It is really doubtful that one race or one religion is genetically evil.

It's just that we have been taught different truths.

The next time you find yourself thinking someone is evil for having a certain opinion, please take a step back and try to see if they just have different truths than you.

It will not be easy and people will not instantly like each other. There ARE true differences in opinion. But it is not as black and white as it sometimes seems.

Please try to understand people based on their "truths". Once you realize each other's "truths"... Once you realize it is not that one of you is the bad one, but simply that you both "know" different "facts", then you are one step closer to understanding each other.