Truth Decay

Truth Decay

***

Published in DLSAU's Basic Education official newspaper,

The Seed, in my column.

"I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that… it’s not the answer." – Jim Carrey

Short yet striking… Isn’t it? Whether we like it or not we must admit that this is our world but it is nice to know that in every problem, there’s always a cure for it. By the way, I will be your emcee for today, and it is my pleasure to introduce to you our speakers. So without further a do, allow me to present to you Mr. Money, Ms. Fame, and Mr. Power to tell us their stories. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s give it up for Mr. Money!

Mr. Money: "Hi guys! If you would ask Mr. Webster about me, he will tell you that I am generally accepted as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, or a means of payment. Now, I will be the one to tell you who I really am. I have seen people’s insatiable desire to have me, I have seen lots of relationships that have been broken because of me, and lots of disheartening stories that a person could ever have. Now I wonder if it is really I that makes the world complicated or those people who do not know how to manage me? People wrestle with each other just for the sake of having lots of me – money, thinking that, they would be happier if they can do anything they want to do through me. But they’re definitely wrong. Look, I can buy you the biggest and grandest house ever, but I can’t buy you a good night sleep. I can buy you rolex but I can never buy you time. Yes, you can have lots of companion because of me but I tell you that you can never have a friend just through me. I am ONLY accepted as a medium of exchange for all of the visible things, those of the material ones. I know that I can never buy those that are unseen. Sounds pathetic...


Yes you! I am talking to you. I know that you need me in order for you to live, but you must know that I am not EVERYTHING you need. I am not and will never be. It is not I who you want, what you want is far beyond anything I can offer to you for haplessly I couldn’t give you the joy that you think you might get from me. So I think I must leave now, the bank just called me, someone’s going to withdraw some of me today. Thank you for listening, got to go guys."


There you have it, our first speaker, Mr. Money. Better not to forget all that he said. So moving on, allow me to present to you our second speaker, Ms. Fame. A warm round of applause for her please. *applause*


Ms. Fame: "I feel very tired of running from people who chase after me… those who are willing to do everything just for them to have me. And when I say everything, trust me; it’s really everything, even the most absurd thing or act just to be noticed by others. Espy the reality shows, tons of teenagers are very much willing to take part with those kinds of activity than to study. Whew! But to balance everything, there are still teenagers left who dream big for themselves and not chasing after the wind as how others do to me. They think I am the road towards my fellow speaker, Mr. Money. They’re wrong, so wrong. Living in the mainstream is no joke. You’ll lose yourself and your privacy. Your life will be publicized and when that day comes, you’ll hide from the paparazzi who’ll always take the snap shots of your life for them to earn a living. I am an extraneous thing for you. You can actually live without me. For you are given the boon to choose between me and a simple life. I cannot promise to you that I’ll be able to bring you to that place flowing with milk and honey and to transform you to that someone you want to be. Because there will always be people who will bring you down. So will you please stop bothering me? Go ahead live your own life because I am living mine."


So what can I say…?There are lots of profound thoughts from Ms. Fame that we must ponder. Now, let’s hear from Mr. Power.


Mr. Power: "As I can see, the pursuit of having power is now pandemic. It’s like a plague that came to one place that suddenly killed everybody there. Sadly, people can kill their fellow men just to have me. Why? What’s wrong? What can I do to them? I cannot make them as strong as Superman or whoever. Yes, it is a part of someone’s desire to control over something and with everything due to the insufficiency of this one thing we call – contentment. An obsolete illness we inherited from our past. I’ll not make my speech a namby-pamby one. All I want to imply to you is that, power is very deceiving; power can make you compromise your beliefs. So better exert yours into good things. For someday, you’ll be able to reap everything you have sown. I definitely know that I being the power could destroy you if you mismanaged me. So for a friendly advice, I recommend that you must handle me very well. Like Mr. Money and Ms. Fame, I, Mr. Power, couldn’t make you HAPPY. And I apologize for that."


Well, I really think that we heard lots of profuse thoughts from our three speakers. And I am pretty much aware that we are somehow convicted. It is normal for us to lust for money, but we must know that it isn’t everything we need. Just see how a famous celebrity ended her own life, Marilyn Monroe, she was once "The most advertised celebrity" in 1950’s and one of those high paid star during her times but she was found dead on August 5, 1962, due to poisoning herself, a "probable suicide." Come to think of it, why did she kill herself? When in fact, she almost has everything a person could yearn for – money, fame, and power. But is she happy having them?


Life isn’t all about material things, for life is all about what’s inside you and me. Indeed, the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.

"9People who want to be rich fall into all sorts of temptations and traps. They are caught by foolish and harmful desires that drag them down and destroy them. 10The love of money causes all kinds of trouble. Some people want money so much that they have given up their faith and caused themselves a lot of pain." 1 Timothy 6:9-10

There’s always a remedy for tooth decay that is why I am hopeful that there’s also one to mend truth decay. I’ll end with these lines, "Truth is truth even if nobody believes in it, and a lie is a lie even if everybody believes it."

So I think, our program finally reached its end. I really hope that you have learned something today. Go ahead and let the truth sets you free! God bless you. : )