Truth 101

Ted Koppel gave a speech at a commencement in 1987 that has floated around the ‘net for quite some time now. If you get the chance, read the whole thing. In case you need a reason why, here is an excerpt:

Our society finds Truth too strong a medicine to digest undiluted. In its purest form Truth is not a polite tap on the shoulder; it is a hallowing reproach.

What Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai were not the Ten Suggestions, they are Commandments. Are, not were.

The sheer brilliance of the Ten Commandments is that they codify, in a handful of words, acceptable human behavior. Not just for then or now but for all time. Language evolves, power shifts from nation to nation, messages are transmitted with the speed of light, man erases one frontier after another; and yet we and our behavior, and the Commandments which govern that behavior, remain the same. The tension between those Commandments and our baser instincts provide the grist for journalism's daily mill. What a huge, gaping void there would be in our informational flow and in our entertainment without routine violation of the Sixth Commandment. Thou shalt not murder.

The concept of “absolute truth” has all but faded from our culture today. In a recent survey of teens, only 3% believed that any truth is valid all the time. The ubiquitous communication style of today’s generation has evolved a society that looks for immediate validation and verification of all opinions. No teen today would dream of taking a stand without sending several hundred text and IM messages all over the planet in an ad-hoc poll to determine the general consensus.

2Peter 3:3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.