Wake of Echoes

How long has it been since you’ve read what Jesus said about hypocrisy ? You know, the speck and the log thing? Go ahead and read it now. I’ll wait. When you read it, did you picture yourself with the log in your eye, or someone else?  Because when we talk about hypocrisy or fairness or bias , I am afraid that I mostly picture myself as the victim rather than the perpetrator, all while knowing these things about myself: I make mistakes I change my mind I don’t always have all the facts I haven’t experienced everything I can be stubborn I am not always fair I am not always honest If nothing on that list applies to you, then feel free to skip this post. Next week I’ll go back to talking about THOSE OTHER GUYS who write BIASED stuff. But for today – just for today – I want to talk about MY bias. (For you , that’s your bias, by the way). I am not trying to be condescending. I know we all know we have biases. I’m only hoping that seeing it in ourselves first...

My family and I are going to see the Broadway musical, WICKED, tonight.  The story, based on the book written by Gregory Maguire, is part prequel, part retelling of the WIZARD OF OZ from the viewpoints of Glinda the Good Witch and The Wicked Witch of the West.  In WICKED, we see a very different version of events than those depicted in L. Frank Baum’s classic.  I won’t spoil it by telling you more.  I suggest you see it and decide for yourself which version is “the truth.” But it’s funny timing.  I’ve been thinking about truth a lot recently:  Particularly in books, but also in other forms of entertainment.  Think, for a minute, about the way we talk about things we have read, watched or heard: Did that really happen? You can’t make this stuff up. That’s hard to believe! It’s right out of a novel. It’s stranger than fiction. You can’t believe everything you read! Ain’t that the truth! We’re obsessed with the “truth” – but not in an ...