Day 93 1 Chronicles 13:1–16:43

Chronicles

The two books of Chronicles, originally one book, were written by someone who’s purpose was to document the facts of Israel’s exile to Babylon and eventual return to their home land. The first nine chapters are solely a recounting of lineage, reminding this people of their roots. Then the stories turn to a recounting of the exile and return, beginning with Saul’s death. Many of these stories we’ve already read about in the book of Kings. It feels a little redundant to read them again.

And yet. I appreciate the value of chronicling things, of trying to capture just facts while they’re fresh. Having said that, I’m not sure it’s possible to report just the facts. The facts are always portrayed from the perspective of the story teller or fact finder. Something as simple as saying ‘the grass is green’, may not be so simple. As someone who’s color blind, and their truth is that the grass is some hue of mud. As a color expert, and they might say the grass is hunter green or forest green. In the world of colors, there are hex codes that tell a computer or paint mixer the precise color. There are over fifty hex codes for the color green. So what color is the grass? Honestly, it depends who you ask.

In our current divisive world, it’s so incredibly difficult to figure out what the facts are. So much is defined by the person who framed the facts. Even if we take out the people who intentionally manipulate the facts to fit their narrative, if a reporter says the grass is green, there’s plenty of legitimate room for disagreement with that simple fact.

This is also true for the current pandemic, vaccines, police intentions, racism, religion – everything. I’m someone who’s always strived for objective truth, and it is so incredibly difficult to obtain. Just look at the argumentative comments on social media. Even accounting for the argumentative sods, finding the ‘truth’ is hard, perhaps impossible.

I’m reminded of that whole internet debate that raged over the color of the dress, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dress) blue and black or gold and white. If the perception of colors are determined by the observer, where does that leave us? Honestly, I’m not going to convince the color expert that the grass is green, any more than the color blind person can convince me it’s mud colored. In case you’re wondering, the dress is obviously blue and black, at least according to my brain.

In my home world, my observations about what’s happening with my loved one and my husband’s vary. We’ve learned that the differences stem from our perceptions and our values. More important, we’ve learned that when it really matters, when we really need to be on the same page, we can get to a common shared understanding. But it requires a lot of time, honesty and vulnerability. Eventually, I can understand why he sees things differently. He’s not wrong, any more than I’m wrong. But our perceptions of the dress color differ, even though you’d think there is just one set of facts. Eventually, we can understand each others’ reasoning, and we can either come to a shared understanding, or sometimes we just have to agree to one person’s observations. If, for example our loved one’s health was predicated on our shared understanding of the dress color, we’d likely just agree to one set of facts, even if our perceptions differed.

Getting to a shared perspective with him is immensely easier than doing the same with our loved one. They are still hospitalized, and honestly believe it is a simple misunderstanding or error, and clearly we need to come pick them up immediately. They genuinely don’t understand why they’re being kept in the most secure unit of the hospital, with all of those other ill people. And like the dress, I will not be able to convince them of my perception of the truth. Their truth is 100% true in their perception.

So what are we to do with facts about politics, virus, vaccine, race, police, religion, pro-life, gun laws, homelessness, addicts? Everyone’s facts are 100% theirs and 100% true to them. I don’t intend to dissuade anyone about their perception of the facts. But I do think it’s important that I remember that someone else’s legitimate understanding of facts that differs from mine, is also 100% theirs and 100% true. Why argue facts?

Like the chronicler, all I can do is compile the facts as I understand them, and draw my own conclusions. If you look at the same facts and draw different conclusions, I absolutely need to figure out how to have room for us both. My conclusion that is mutually exclusive to yours doesn’t make me right and you wrong, any more than vice versa. My truth is right, and so is yours. If we could start with that as our shared truth, maybe we’d get further in figuring out how to just get along.