The Discomfort Truth About Life
卑鄙是卑鄙者的通行证，高尚是高尚者的墓志铭！
- 北岛《回答》一九七六年四月
We have been lied to all our lives!
By whom, you ask. Well, by everyone, the government, politicians, corporation leaders, influencers, celebrities, teachers, family, and most of all ourselves. This is not an anti-world tirade. After all, I first and foremost pride myself on being a rational teacher who only voices opinions based on facts and truth. Now that might be the first lie you heard in this paragraph. I have to insist that I do mean every word I wrote here, and yet do not deny the previous statement.
Allow me to explain.
We have been lied to by all kinds of agents, but not all with ill intent. When your mom told you she loves you, I'm sure she meant it. But if you ignore the possibility that she loves herself more, then you are a fool.
(I know, uncomfortable, isn't it!)
Integrity, for the greater good, moral campus, for your own good, I'm sure you have heard them all and more. Most of these words may have been uttered with the most sincere and genuine authenticity. If these are not lies, they are not the truth, at least not the whole truth, either.
My son is in high school now and has been through a couple of years of a tough patch after we moved to a completely new country. Standing by his side to help navigate through the turmoil of real life granted me a fresh and unadulterated perspective on life.
I have been dealing with most of these questions in my life and never dared to face the uncomfortable truth until now that I realized hiding from them could handicap my son for life.
This blog gathers my thoughts on important questions in life that require answers. I hold all the right answers. Oops, you don't need to be a genius to know that was a lie.
But I will give you the same treatment I offered my son. No judgment and preaching, only facts and perspectives. I never forced him to accept my opinion or attitude, and neither should you. However, it is enlightened to consider all sides before making decisions. In medicine, it is called informed decision-making.
A reporter asked movie star Denzel Washington how to deal with all the fake news. Denzel responded that "if you don't watch news, you are uninformed; if you do, you are misinformed".
Then what should we do, Denzel?
Well, I'll answer on his behalf. The answer is you need to use that 3-pound mushy thing sitting on top of your shoulder. You know, that thing called the brain.
Duh, that's probably your response!
What if I tell you that your brain is the first in line that play a lot of tricks on you. Sure, the whole world is lying to us, but among them, the worst of the worst is ourselves, specifically, our brains.
So in this blog, I will write about life and reality with the way the brain works in mind. I will point out the inconsistencies in life, how our brain processes it, and how we may navigate our neurosystem to better our lives.
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