Twisted Truth

What is your earliest memory? I once had a conversation with a guy I knew about this. He said he had heard that if you had a sibling born when you were two, that is probably your earliest memory. Otherwise, true memories (not ones based on old pictures of things we think we remember because we’ve seen that picture so often) don’t kick in until the age of three or four and maybe even later than that. I would have to say the birth of my sister Katey when I was 2 ½ probably is my earliest memory, for I can distinctly remember seeing her in the hospital. But I don’t think I recall anything prior to that.

Today I read a interesting news article. These days, there aren’t many of those. Most of them have to deal with the virus, and idiot politicians, and “facts” you swore you read just the week before, and famous people who think they’re having a rough time coping in their million dollar mansions where their nannies still take care of their kids 24/7. But this one was about a 100-year-old World War II vet in Long Island who had just died of coronavirus (or, more accurately, probably complications from having the virus) whose twin brother had died during the Spanish Flu in 1919. The “coincidence” was intriguing, certainly. The article itself was ridiculous.

If you hadn’t already learned prior to this coronavirus, the media is all about “twisted truth”. Which isn’t truth at all for, by definition, truth cannot be twisted. It simply is. This article was point in fact:

“Philip Kahn lived to become a decorated World War II veteran and to raise a family but never forgot his brother Samuel who died shortly after they were born in December 1919 in New York City,” the article reads in the second paragraph.

As if that didn’t already have me scratching my head, a later quote from his grandson stated that his grandfather had always told him about his twin brother who had died during the Spanish Flu pandemic. Since the article wasn’t very long, I read it twice just to be sure I was picking up the correct wording. And I was. It clearly states “never forgot his brother Samuel”. As if a man whose twin brother died mere weeks after they were born could remember his brother. And then share those memories with his kids and grandkids. I’m sorry, but I think not.

Other articles on the same man made it clear that the twins were only weeks old when Samuel died. While Mr. Kahn felt a void in his life from that and remembers the loss being hard on his parents, he didn’t really rememberhis brother. But that truth doesn’t make for very horrific reading – the kind that’s supposed to scare us into staying at home for the unforeseen future, terrified that we will die if we step outside our door. So, add in a few words that twist the truth just enough and – ta-da! – you have a story that will feed the coronavirus frenzy. Because, sadly, people trust the media waaaay more than even logic…let alone truth.

We do live in a very sad world. Not because sickness and death occur, because they do every single day virus or no virus. But because truth no longer has any value. And without truth, what is there left to stand on?