There is Only One Truth

There is only one truth
In this world of instant gratification,
Where information is transmitted
In a flash, where honesty and lies
Get tangled in a clash of verbal combat
Between friends and lovers
There is only one truth

When great swathes of humanity
Get caught up in the grip
Of indoctrination to believe
And accept preposterous nonsense
As a substitute for reality
There is still, only one truth

When infamous liars
Grant permission to hate,
To see all “those” people
As an inferior sub-race
Threatening ethnic purity
Truth is tarnished and twisted

When facts are invented out of the ether,
When the very fabric of our principles
Is shredded and discarded
In favor of regimented factions
That abhor empathy and common sense
There is no hope for the simple truth

When philosophical disagreements
Become woven into social divisions
That grow and fester into cultural
Conflict, dividing us into opposing camps
Threatening violence as the only solution
Truth dies with the first shot

When veneration of false idols
Tramples the bonds that bind us
Into a nation, a congenial society
That once transformed discord
Into harmonies and solutions
Truth has no value

When being right
Becomes more gratifying
Than being honest
Or caring
Or inclusive
Truth becomes irrelevant

When we have no use for truth,
A treasure more dear
Than winning arguments
Or senseless conflicts,
Love and friendship
Get squandered in the scuffle

When facts are twisted
And manipulated
Into smear and slander
To solicit fear and anger
To increase the ratings
And pump up the profits

The lies and the liars win,
We concede the best
Of the what we might have been
And reject honor and integrity
By ignoring and denying
What we know to be true

When the right to outrage
Becomes an addiction,
When demonizing
Those who confront
The bigotry and lies
Becomes entertainment,

When we are blind to seeing
Virtue in each other,
In the very soul of our being,
We have granted power
To the contemptable
Who have dispensed with truth

Which begs the question
Of what we stand for,
What have we become
In the years since far too many
Bowed to treachery and deceit,
When we all knew better,

And rejected those we once
Loved and cherished
Before we abandoned honesty
And accepted deception
Instead of embracing
The simple truth

We all know the way back
To all we cherish and defend,
Depends on our ability
To retreat from confrontation
And embrace our better angels
Because, in our hearts, we know

There is only one truth