January 19, 2020
Forgive and forget? Forgive, write, and rewrite. Like James A. Michener said, ‘I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter. According to Democritus, truth lies at the bottom of a well, the water of which serves as a mirror in which objects may be reflected. I have heard, however, that some philosophers, in seeking for truth, to pay homage to her, have seen their own image and adored it instead. -Charles Francis Richter I saw Jean Leone Jerome’s painting, ‘Truth coming out of her well’, on my Face book newsfeed. The painting was inspired by a 19th century legend about the Lie convincing the Truth to take a bath in a well. They both undress and swim in. Soon, the Lie emerges, and putting on the Truth’s clothes, runs off. The Truth was livid as she came out of the well and searched for the Lie to get her clothes back. The legend has it that, ‘The world, seeing the Truth naked, turned its gaze away, with contempt and rage. The poor Truth returned to the well and disappeared forever, hiding therein, its shame. Since then, the Lie travels around the world, dressed as the Truth, satisfying the needs of society, because, the world, in any case, habours no wish at all, to meet the naked Truth. Jerome’s painting got me thinking about a personal experience. A while ago, I communicated a detailed business proposition to someone I know from my childhood. We reached a clear understanding on terms of agreement and I was confident enough about the deal to hire an extra hand. This was added cost for the project. However, I was foolish not to have had proper documentation of contract agreement before service execution. They say that childhood connections bring with them a sense of familiarity and security. Imagine taking a dip in the ocean having spotted a dolphin at a distance. Mid way in ocean, you discover it wasn’t a dolphin but a great barracuda. It rarely attacks humans but can cause lacerations and loss of tissues with a single bite. Within an incredibly short time, my investment in irrecoverable time and effort on the project became at risk of being an investment in irrecoverable time and effort without return. Weeks went by after project delivery and the constant regurgitation of the same excuses over non-payment made me realise that ‘childhood friend’ had scripted the entire episode as a fool’s errand. At which point, I put a call across to ‘childhood friend’ who then suggested that we had agreed to a $100 dollar contract and not ridiculous sum they said I had made claims to. My flight tickets alone during project execution cost more than $100, so it was such an asinine assertion. My natural reaction was an outburst of laughter. ‘Childhood friend’, now turned B.S artist in my estimation abruptly cut the call and what followed was a barrage of text messages. I clearly stated via text that we might need a