Seventeen Words

I had what can fairly be described as a difficult relationship with my father during what proved to be the final year of his life.  We might have loved one another, as a father and a son do, but we did not like one another.  Not even a little.  

Our difficulties notwithstanding, even when his dislike for me was palpable, my father never stopped teaching me.  My old man was a limitless Pez Dispenser of life lessons. Practically every time he opened his mouth, he released one.  Your appetite for it was irrelevant. You received it irrespective of whether you had asked for it.  

Among the things he taught me a lifetime or three ago that I have carried with me ever since is the notion that a man's word is his bond.  WPK, Sr. had innumerable failings as a human being and the resemblance between him and his youngest child is eerily stunning in that respect.  Among the things he always seemed to get right however was not simply appreciating - but coveting really - the significance of speaking truthfully, of saying what you mean, and meaning what you say.  Fun fact - WPK, Sr. and Horton never were photographed together.  You are free to assign to that whatever significance you deem appropriate. 

A commitment to not only speak the truth but to call out those who refuse to do so has dogged me my entire life.  Lying infuriates me.  Every relationship you have, whether personal or professional, must have trust at its core. If you cannot be trusted to act honorably, to speak truthfully, and to take ownership of your own errors when made, then you are worthless.  

Liars do not, in my experience, ever reform.  It is encoded in their DNA.  It is innate.  It is their pathology.  Human beings are animals.  Animals are creatures of habit.  Human beings rarely undergo an epiphany.  What to a casual observer might appear to be some type of seismic change is, frequently, upon closer inspection something far less so.  

By way of example, as a much younger man, I was a raging, albeit fully functional, alcoholic. My addictive personality fueled it and vice versa.  Years ago, I stopped focusing my energy on drinking to excess.  Yet, my personality type has not been materially altered.  I have simply altered the things to which I am addicted, which principally are my grandchildren, work, running, and writing. I know of which I write because I am of whom I write.  

DJT is now what he has always been, which is a pathological liar.  He lies reflexively.  When his lies affected only those with whom he dealt as a private businessman or as the cartoonish host of a reality television show, the rest of the world paid him no mind.  However, those he tells in his present job are significantly worse for they affect the lives of millions, including of course those who voted for him in 2016 and who he is counting upon - truth be damned - to swallow his lies and vote for him again this November.  

If you have little enough respect for yourself to not demand the truth from a person, then you cannot be surprised when the person lying to you has none either.  

-AK