Tell The F*cking Truth
Go ahead and watch this video before you start reading. It’s fairly short.
I explain in my story “Nothing to Do” that ‘nothing to do’ means no reason for anything. “Nothing to do” was a feeling I had on the day when I discovered I was wrong about everything (Read my book Firing God…the whole story is in there).
One thing this feeling of “nothing to do” has produced is self trust. Without a reason to act as a carrot or prize, doing begins in my gut and intuition.
I used to constantly make or manufacture the “prize” I was hoping for. If the reason wasn’t there, I’d manufacture it.
I still do this on occasion but it’s not as easy or as useful as it used to be so, I abandon the effort after a while.
“Racism” is a word…a noun to be more specific. After that, it’s a belief. As is the case with every word and belief, it’s also a symbol that represents something “real”. You know how the American flag is a symbol that represents someting “real”? Racism is the same.
For me it’s an idea that I ignored then created reasons for why I should ignore it. I moved away from the south, I married a white man, I have mixed children, I got a formal education at a predominantly white school, I did all kinds of things to prove that this thing called race made no difference and people with less melanin than I did not notice or care about the abundance of melanin that I have.
Now that there is clearly nothing to do, and I’m resting from my “there-has-to-be-a-reason” manufacturing job, I am here. Where is here? In the bed that we have made. I’m not non-racist or anti-racist. I’m for telling the truth. I’m for letting everyone see what I’m thinking, no surprises and no secrets.
I’m convinced that the core problem in this world is habitual lying — lying to the image I see in the mirror every morning. Me. You.
Instead of “In God We Trust”, or “ God Bless America” or other useless phrases on our money or out of our mouths, let’s say and write “Tell The Fucking Truth”.
“Tell” is actually an interesting and fitting word/symbol. In everyday language, “tell” is typically used as a verb meaning to communicate information or facts to someone directly, as in “tell the truth”. However, the term “tell” also has a specific meaning in the context of psychology, poker, and other games of strategy.
In these contexts, a “tell” is an unconscious behavior that can indicate someone’s thoughts or feelings. For example, in poker, a player might have a tell, like touching their face or shuffling their chips in a certain way, when they have a strong hand. Skilled poker players can often identify these tells and use them to predict what kind of hand their opponent has.
This usage of “tell” is related to the everyday use of the word in the sense that both involve communication. However, while “telling the truth” involves direct, intentional communication, a “tell” in the context of poker is usually an indirect, unintentional communication.
Behaviors associated with racism is a “tell”. It’s a tell about you, though. Not me. It’s a tell about something “real”.
Whatever it is right now, for you…tell the truth. You already know the truth, you’re already demonstrating the truth…you just need to directly tell it.
Tell the truth about you (the real you) that is symbolized in racist ideas and behaviors.
Can we start there?
