Monthly Archives: August 2018

Is Normal Life Sustainable If We Always Tell The Truth?

Is Normal Life Sustainable If We Always Tell the Truth?

 

A recent TV programme* advanced the proposition
That to sustain daily life we must resort to deception
Apparently social intercourse forces us to lie
To uphold concord the truth we must deny

Of course there is some debate on the nature of a lie
To condemn all false words or actions is to oversimplify
There is a difference surely between a fib or small white lie
And a monstrous whopper which you can rarely justify

Proclaiming the whole truth may well result in hurt
When we make no effort to soften a harsh word
We speak with veracity but how will it be received?
Surely the hearer is bound to feel aggrieved

Research has claimed we shrink from boldly stating
The stark truth to others when we ought to be berating
Afraid of offending  their feelings or causing alienation
We meekly soften the blow, espouse prevarication

We lie most commonly to our own kith and kin
Perhaps we consider that is less a sin
Or perhaps we are too afraid to disturb the uneasy peace
Recognising reality would family discord increase

But in business too we often use fabrication
Describing our products using much exaggeration
Trade descriptions legislation is meant this to prevent
But unhappy customer reports are still widely evident

Another aspect of untruthfulness is the deliberate omission
Thus it is what we fail to say that merits admonition
We sanitise awkward facts and situations
Thus producing false hopes and expectations

Of course in life there are times when truth can’t be avoided
And these situations must never be exploited
Professionals giving advice from truth should not depart
Each in their own field should play an honest part

No matter the extent to which we feel we can be economical
With truth, we must n’er migrate to a world quite mythological
Rather we must seek to live our lives with true sincerity
Truth our moral compass, the bulwark of integrity

Ken Fisher

 

  • Horizon: A Week Without Lying – The Honesty Experiment

Money is the Sacrament of Moral Seriousness

Money is the Sacrament of Moral Seriousness 

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Wordsworth penned it long ago in these immortal words:

           ‘Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers”

And little seems to have changed down the decades
And now this quote from Giles Fraser (former Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s)

‘Money is the sacrament of moral seriousness’

Is money all that matters in our lives?
Well, of course, without it we ne’er can survive
So day-by-day we strive to earn our cash
Ignoring it is simply far too rash

So for most of us we have no other choice
In the courts of life money gives us voice
And getting it and spending it we can’t avoid
Thus our energies to that end deployed

But is money the measure of all things?
Despite the vital benefits it brings
Must we forever strive to garner more
To hold good credit balances in store?

Is the danger thus that wealth becomes our God?
Before its altar we bend ever awed
Thus money’s worship our new sacrament
Our life’s devotion thus bears testament

All that we have becomes all that we are
Possessions are our measure and our star
Seems little else our hearts can satisfy
Things alone our desire can gratify

But is there not another way to live?
Blessing gained when we learn to give
To share something of the bounty we have gained
Our selfishness no longer unconstrained

And perhaps there is another moral purpose
Which with generosity we can surely purchase
The fairer sharing of the world’s, and our own gains
A legacy for all from that which still remains

Ken Fisher

 

Trust

Trust

Trust, a concept vital to our life together
Trust takes time to build up
But can be lost in an instant, with even one breach
That mutual reliance suddenly evaporates

Trusting starts in infancy, a one-way transaction
The toddler grasping her mother’s hand
The unflinching belief in our parents’ love
Yet even then this trust can be broken

And as life progresses we learn to trust
Professionals assure us that our trust is warranted
“Trust me, I’m a doctor!”
Fortunately this covenant is rarely violated

Trust is so vital in commerce and trade
But it is not an equal contest between
Suppliers and personal customers
Hence the need for consumer watch dogs

And what can be said of the current wobble
In our belief that our banking affairs
Are in safe hands? Or even worse
Accurate assessment of medical tests

But nonetheless we must continue to trust
Trust that our food will not poison us
Trust that the MoT testers are not cheating
Trust in all who drive or pilot public transport
Trust in those who design and maintain our roads and railways
Trust in those who provide advice of all kinds
Trust in our politicians and institutions to govern with integrity
Trusting one another in our relationships
We might even find ourselves trusting the weather forecasters!

Ken Fisher

 

See also my poem : Truth

Truth

Truth

Truth

Why do we so often evade it?
Is truth too painful?
Is truth impossible to define?
Is truth only ever relative?

What is truth anyway?

Some say: it is the correspondence
of language or thought
to an independent reality

This seems to assume that reality
is the actual existence, as opposed to
that which is merely imaginary

Does truth matter?

Can we live without truth?

Philosophers down the ages
Have wrestled with truth
Theologians tried to lead us to truth

The Way, the Truth, the Life

Car salesmen may have been economical with the truth
Politicians have their own version (or their party’s) of truth
Good parents implore that we always tell the truth

So truth seems to matter

Perhaps it concerns us more
In the age of Fake News
When prevarication, falsehoods and
downright lies seem to proliferate

But can we afford to dispense with truth?

Trust is closely aligned with truth
And is surely built on truth
When trust is lost what happens to
contracts, social relations, credit,
professional advice, the purity of drugs,
air traffic control, the safety of buildings,
indeed all incorporeal property

Tear up truth and shred the civilized world

Ken Fisher

PS but just sometimes, we need to be gentle with the truth

 

See also my poem Trust

Unwillingly to School

Unwillingly to School

“And creeping like a snail unwillingly to school”
Shakespeare – As You Like It

Spare a thought for our kids today
As once more they join the fray
Wave adieu to days of freedom
As to learning they are ransomed

Knuckle down to discipline
To instruction they must listen
Co-operate with earnest teachers
Help to build a brighter future

Parents too will find relief
Saves them from a lot of grief
As they despatch their young offspring
Called to classes as bells ring

Ken Fisher

On-Line Angst

On-Line Angst

This week it is reported that most of us
check our smart phones within 10 minutes of waking
and thereafter about every 12 minutes

Indeed, one of the last things we do at night
is tweak our devices before attempting to slip into unconsciousness

It occurs to me that we have perhaps allowed ourselves to
fall into an unhealthy relationship the cyber world

I am calling this On-Line Angst

In days gone by the phone would ring
As tidings it was wont to bring
Messages from friends and colleagues
Inducing cheer or melancholy

Our phone line linked to the exchange
Communications thus arranged
Connected to the world outside
Poles and cables far and wide

But only sound was then conveyed
No images could be portrayed
Nonetheless the network served us well
Exclusive GPO clientele

But in due time came privatization
Welcome thrusting competition
As technical change then coincided
The former framework just exploded

Fibre optics were invented
Old assumptions thus fragmented
Suddenly ‘on-line’ world-wide
No sanctuary, no place to hide

Eventually our phones turned smart
Displaying menus a la carte
Voice and text and pictures too
My selfie winging straight to you

When once the phone lived just at home
Nowadays GPS tracks us as we roam
The office too transformed by change
As smart devices widely range

So now we find phones everywhere
Just like our clothes, our phone we wear
Its beeps, and throbs gives low vibrations
Indicative of our close relation

So throughout the day from morn till eve
The smart phone we refuse to leave
Constant companion, demanding friend
Like a romance we dare not end

Because if of our phone we are deprived
We see no way we could survive
On-line angst now dominates
Our contract we must n’er forsake

Ken Fisher

Results!

Results!

To-day for Scottish pupils spare a thought
Whose awakening may be somewhat fraught
As they receive that communication
Which may not meet their expectation

Because to-day’s the day results arrive
To avoid them they cannot contrive
In the past they only came by post
But now by e-mail or text from coast to coast

So by whatever means each candidate
Hears news determining their fate
No doubt filled with apprehension
As they wait in expectation

For some of course it will be great relief
If their hoped for grades have been achieved
For others there may be some surprise
And future plans they must revise

The media no doubt will show beaming faces
Of high fliers locked in warm embraces
With teachers and parents full of admiration
Let’s hope the less successful find consolation

Whatever the results help to predict
By no means the definitive verdict
Exam success is surely not alone
By which our future worth be known

Ken Fisher

Time and Change

Time & Change

There is no stopping time’s progression
Its forward movement we can’t question
And as each year succeeds the last
We marvel at its speed so fast

The years progress at such a pace
It seems as if life is a race
Each month heralds something new
Novel sensations to value

Yet not for all, this speeding motion
Experiencing sluggish locomotion
The daily duty the quotidian round
Becomes for them life’s burial ground

One thing is certain what e’er the pace
With fear or joy we must embrace
The fact of change inevitable
Its advance inexorable

How to handle time and change?
From neither can we be estranged
Time sometimes called the fourth dimension
Change constantly prompts transformation

If we might learn time to contain
Within each day’s confining frame
And change accept with patient calm
Our souls thus shielded against harm

No force can e’er time’s progress halt
And change is part of life’s default
Within these elements seek contentment
Respond with grace and n’er resentment

Ken Fisher