Seek The Truth No Further

Almost five years ago, a distant cousin of mine got married. Out of the blue.

The entire extended family was suddenly rife with all sorts of theories revolving around the marriage. In those few frantic weeks, I would hear certain camps claim authoritatively that their version of the events leading up to the nuptials was the authentic one, only to soon hear from other factions similarly credible spins on the 'truth'.

Right up to the night of the wedding dinner, the tide of theories still surged on unabated, and could not be quelled. Some whispered 'shotgun marriage', others 'true love', while the ones who sat on the fence and couldn't really keep up with justifying their positions merely muttered 'fate'.

I remember them walking down the little aisle in the ballroom, and it struck me that they were impervious to all that was being said about them. Surely they were aware, but they didn't much care.

For how does one ascertain truth? As human beings we necessarily perceive the world through coloured lenses, yet surely that in itself defeats any claim to any objectivity we might stake.

To a geographer a rock is an embodiment of Nature's whimsical creative energies, to a doctor a rock is a dangerous object posing as a repository of microbial miscreants, to a lawyer a rock is an article the possession of which spells the degree of pre-meditation a party to a fracas nurtured.

I fancy that the then-newlyweds were acutely aware of the disparaging talk going on around them, but they weren't too bothered. There was only one perspective to the truth that was crucial to the longevity of their union, and it was shared by both of them.

And that was probably all that mattered.