“Truth needs no apology.”

Patricia McKillip, Riddle-Master of Hed

As I was preparing for the upcoming show where we’ll discuss McKillip’s Riddle-Master of Hed, this quote jumped off the page at me. There’s a lot packed into these four words. 

        On the one hand, it is an absolute statement that ought to be indisputable. One needn’t look further than the free speech laws in the United States and many other countries (or the lack of such laws in others) to understand why–if people aren’t at liberty to both learn and speak their minds, it becomes much easier for those in power to abuse their positions. When you can only say what Big Brother approves, freedom becomes an illusion. This is a theme in my own Spoken Books series, too, where the wealthy few maintain power by withholding the ability to read from the rest of society.

        But while hiding the truth or twisting it to one’s advantage are obvious abuses, what actually constitutes “the truth” is not always clear. In civil and criminal trials, a jury is tasked with determining what happened in any given case. But viewpoints (of both witnesses and jurors) differ, memories are fickle, and humans have innate biases. Two honest people may tell entirely different versions of the same event, each of which is genuine in their own minds. This is why so many lawsuits settle before trial–the truth may be absolute, but determining it is difficult, and predicting what a randomly selected group of people will decide nearly impossible. 

        I’ll leave you with this to consider: Should one always tell the truth? As an isolated question, I think few would disagree. But what about when the truth is hurtful, or even harmful, to another? Consider a slightly different question: Should one always speak with tact? Again, at first I think few would disagree. But one can’t always speak both tactfully and truthfully. So, riddle me this: Is it true that truth needs no apology?

        Another reminder that we’ll be discussing the book this quote came from–Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia McKillip–on the July 10 podcast episode. It raises many more interesting questions like the ones above, so if you like this sort of thing, be sure to tune in! If you need a copy of the book, pick up your copy of Riddle-Master today.