Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Writing the Truth

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Writing the Truth

If I decide not to write what I am writing at this moment, will it make any difference? It may not make any difference and the same situation may persist whether I complete this writing or not. Therefore, all those who write may be cognizant of the fact that what they write may not alter the world. So much has been written in our world and what has been the outcome? What is the result of all the thinking, ideas and the desires? If something is written and that is loved or something is explained in such a manner that is praised by all, even then what will be the outcome?

In the similar fashion, it is also true that mostly when we consider something to be white; it turns out to be black in reality. When we find a rainbow, it appears to be haze. If you write about dawns and it is read as dusks, what is the benefit in writing about the dawns? Suppose you tell a truth and it is comprehended as a lie, what is the utility of telling that truth?

It is a well accepted truth that the rights of human beings are violated and there is injustice everywhere, and realizing this fact, you start letting others know about it, but what will be the effect of your voice? You endanger your life and you strive to make the people understand the truth but would they really understand? What are your capabilities? I don’t seem to comprehend fully that why those who write consider themselves in full possession of true knowledge and education, when, as a matter of fact, they fail to be read seriously by people?

When a person does not have the potential, why is he given the authority to express himself? Moreover, what is the true meaning of ‘expressing’? Expression should be in such a way that all those who hear or read must agree that they have comprehended the meaning. The distance and gaps in comprehension should start eroding and the windows of the comprehension should open it and it should welcome all the words and thoughts that enter them. Nonetheless, such an expression is not a very common sort of expression; it is actually the expression of truth and when it starts showing itself, the other expressions do not have other option except to shy away.

Most of the people usually tell lie and do not even think about it and even if someone tells the truth, he does not tell it in a manner a truth must be told. You might have listened to those who have the misunderstanding that they are telling the truth; they talk like they are revealing any mysterious fact that was hidden for long; but, in reality, they have nothing new to say. They don’t tell the truth but, in fact, act to tell it as they are taught nothing except to tell lie and even sometimes they are paid to do so. They are those who just wear the apparel of truth but under their apparel their whole existence is full of lie, just lie, nothing else.

There are many people in our world who live two lives; one that appears to other, the other is the true one, which is mostly hidden and they don’t want others to see it. Unfortunately, the lives that appear to others are mostly lie and the hidden one is the real truth. How can truth prevail in a society where the people keep on hiding it at every moment of their lives?

The most important service in our society is to unveil the truth. Though it may prove to be difficult and even bitter and the people may not be ready for it, but it has to be done. Thus, the writers, when they write must keep this service as the goal of their writings. Their writings must strive to show the people their true selves and teach them not to be guilty of what they really are. They have to know that their existences are better than their cloths which are lifeless and unworthy. In words of Marcel Proust, “Every reader finds himself. The writer's work is merely a kind of optical instrument that makes it possible for the reader to discern what, without this book, he would perhaps never have seen in himself”.

Definitely, there would be many instances when they will face the questions that are discussed in the beginning of this piece of writing, but they have to know that they do not have any other alternative. They can write and write and everything may go in vain but their writings would never die. They would be there and would stand as a witness to the cruelties of lie. They may even be ridiculed, may be neglected and even burnt, but they would never be avoided. The shrieks may be silenced but the echoes of the shrieks can never be undermined. The writings may be burnt but the thoughts and facts can never be flamed. The truthful may be ridiculed and even killed but the love and thirst for truth may never be eliminated. As John Steinbeck had said, “The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true”.

There have been many examples in history where the people who have told or written the truth they have been ignored, isolated and even punished, but the truths that they have told have remained a part of history and the world has afterwards benefitted from it. Yes, sometimes, the society takes its time to accept the truth but ultimately it has to accept it.

Dilawar Sherzai is the permanent writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at Outlookafghanistan@gmail.com 

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