Luke: “Obi-Wan! Why didn't you tell me? You told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father!”
Obi-Wan: “Your father was seduced by the dark side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed. So what I told you was true... from a certain point of view.”
Luke: “A certain point of view?”
Obi-Wan: “Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.”
At the risk of outing myself as a Star Wars aficionado, I am compelled to adopt certain realities highly applicable to our present sad state of human circumstances. Like a seal in a Sea World show, I find myself clapping my hands together as Obi Wan spouts the secrets of the divine oracle and in so doing lays out the human conundrum clearly and concisely: Whose truth is Truth?
Obi Wan’s advice to Luke about truth from a certain point of view couldn’t be more relevant. Today’s world is filled with more myth and legend than the entire Harry Potter series, albeit not often nearly as entertaining, but equally frightening.
It seems as though there are few truths that stand as universal any longer and we are all invested in paradigms to suit our own agendas and needs.
Why bring Star Wars into this discussion? Aside from the truth inherent in Obi Wan’s words, the simple reality of the Star Wars technology available for destruction is not only visible but viable and poses a truly frightening reality.
North Korea continues to pursue advances in its nuclear capability despite the oh-so-scary warning from Secretary of State Hilary Clinton…”we’re gonna call you a bad name and stop sending you Mickey Dees if you don’t stop.” This has done little if anything to impede North Korea’s particular truth.
Placating Iran and making nice seems to be incentive for the naughty child to continue acting out and acting up at the hand of a permissive parent.
The Catholic Church’s refusal to accept the fact it is a target of the hateful schemes of Islamic extremists as much as Israel and the Jewish people is a classic case of Cleopatra Queen of Denial with an Italian accent.
The world imbuing the American President with god-like qualities before anyone is even certain he can part the waters is pure folly, from a certain point of view.
The jury is still out on Mr. Obama and the world has yet to see the effects of his agenda even six months in the future. When and if his promise is realized, the world will have plenty of time to sing his praises and tell stories of the second coming and a new virgin birth.
Yes, truth can be seen from many points of view. Iran sees truth and hope as the destruction of the U.S. and Israel.
North Korea sees truth and hope as the destruction and bullying of the world.
Russia, ah that is another story. Russia’s hope is that no one will notice all the bad things it is up to, as the attention of the world is focused elsewhere. Things that will make the Berlin wall look like a walk in the park.
Or perhaps truth lies in the words of Hitler on November 21, 1941 in Berlin: “The objectives of my fight are clear. Primarily, I am fighting the Jews without respite, and this fight includes the fight against the so-called Jewish National Home in Palestine because the Jews want to establish there a central government for their own pernicious purposes, and to undertake a devastating and ruinous expansion at the expense of the governments of the world and of other peoples.”
To Hitler this was Truth.
Or the truth of Martin Luther King when he said…”I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.”
“It’s all someone’s truth, from a certain point of view”
Although some truths are no longer held to be self evident, what are they after all? Whose Truth stands at the end of the day as supreme?
Only that sadly, there is no truth. Even Israel and the Jewish people in their yearning for salvation are doomed to forever disagree with who they are and what they believe as a people.
Too many are eager to give away the store for a promise of peace. Too many are eager to make nice with people whose only version of nice is the total destruction for Israel.
No longer can we say what is true, for truth has too many diverse options in the minds and hearts of man. Now we are all faced with the same harsh reality that what Obi Wan told Luke, and what we must accept is: “It’s all someone’s truth, ‘from a certain point of view.’”
In the series “Postcards from Israel – Postcards from Home,” Ari Bussel and Norma Zager invite readers throughout the world to join them as they present reports about Israel, homeland of the Jewish People, as seen by two sets of eyes. This “point - counter-point” presentation has, since 2008, become part of our lives. It can be found in numerous websites around the world as well as in print in the USA.
