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A quote: “The truth is something that burns. It burns off dead wood. And people don’t like having the dead wood burnt off, often because they’re 95 percent dead wood.” ~~ Jordan Peterson
I’ll start with a story …
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She had been – what? – 15 years old when he disappeared? Mom retreated to her bed and a bottle. She was left to grapple with a crumbling apartment, drug-dealing neighbors and a leering landlord. She was too busy to even spare a thought for missing her old man save for “screw” and “you”.
So, color her speechless when the lawyer showed up at her work with a key.
It was a tiny 3rd floor office. Pictures of her hung on the walls.
Three things she took with her. His gun, a banker-box of files and his fedora.
A new career. Joy.
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Now, it’s your turn.
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. featured image, cropped and modified, Adobe Stock standard license
The envious say that some people have way too much money for their own good, but I’m not complaining. Some of it is paying for a fun and very expensive jet setter lifestyle for me. Some of those people decided instead of a scavenger hunt, to let their kids play Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego on the world stage and I play Carmen. Once in a while I let them catch me, and it starts over. And yes, I’m putting some away into savings. I do pity the nannies who have to ride herd on the little brats.
How relieved I was when each of our children’s psi talents proved to be the ordinary sort of telepathy. Yes, I know how valuable the truthseer gift is, but most people have no idea what a burden it can be to literally be unable to tell a lie.
By the time I was getting to school age, my parents were getting worried about my blunt honesty. They’d managed to teach me not to blurt out awkward truths, but if someone asked me a direct question, no amount of encouragement or punishment could get me to tell the “little white lies” that help grease the wheels of social interaction.
The school district brought in a specialist, who diagnosed me with a communication disorder. Once she realized that I could enjoy and even retell stories, she reframed “little white lies” as “polite fictions,” bits of make-believe we do to smooth over the awkward parts of life.
However, the damage had been done, and I remained suspect in the eyes of the community. No matter how hard I tried, I would always be the rude little girl who either blurted out unacceptable truths or stood sullenly silent.
How different everything became when I arrived out here and started my Institute training, learning how to function as a human lie detector. But the old habits die hard, and even after more than a decade here, that misdiagnosis of communication disorder still lingers in my mind.
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