Copley comes into my office after having read my 'blog, and overall, he says he finds it interesting. But he is concerned that I have taken...shall we say "liberties" with the truth in my reporting of the events that transpired at Nacho Mama's. "I was there," he says, "and I recognized Allain Toussaint too!" Well, okay, so he did. But he raises a good point: why not tell the story like it really happened?
Well, first of all, who's to say what really happened? There was a lot of alcohol consumed at Nacho Mamas on Thursday night. After all that is pretty much the point of Nacho Mamas (we buy drinks and they make money). Does Copley want Nacho Mamas to go out of business? I think not. So, he shouldn't take so narrow a view of things. He should think about Shane, and the other people who make their living at Nacho Mamas.
But what about the "Truth"? What role should it serve in our reporting of what happens around us?
Well, here's how I see it. I think that Truth is like a wobbly old World War II airplane...let's say a B-25. Hard to fly, and not very manuverable. Sometimes, you're tugging at the yoke, trying to coax that beast up to the proper altitude so that you can clear a mountain range, or whatever (you get the picture). You're on an important mission, but you have to make choices. Do you hope that you'll make it to proper altitude, or do you toss a few things over the side to increase your chances? You look around and decide to jettison the lifeboats and the life-preservers. After all, if you hit the mountain they aren't going to do you much good anyway. I think that pretty much paints the picture. So...just think of Truth as a life-preserver. And toss it overboard every once in a while.
[
