While a young man was walking on the street, he got knocked down by a woman on the road. What’s worse, he was also hit by an oncoming car without any witnesses.
The victim insisted that the woman pushed him on purpose. But she denied it and explained that he stumbled on a stone which caused him to lose his balance and fall down, and then bumping briefly into the woman’s shoulder before eventually falling to the ground. In addition, she said that the young man’s eyes were glued on his mobile phone while walking. So she insisted that it was the young man being too careless.
As they say, there is always two sides of a story. It is possible that the woman was there and purposely pushed him down over some kind of resentment. But, it is also possible that the young man was so engrossed in his mobile game which resulted in him losing his balance and getting hit by the car. Which if this the case then it is completely his fault.
There’s a common issue that’s become a problem recently in Japan I would like to introduce. On the train confident women have been claiming sexual harassment. This has become an issue because it’s happening more often. Here’s a common situation – if a crowded train jolts or stops suddenly, a woman claims someone touched her inappropriately and report that she’s been violated to the police. But more times than not, no one intentionally touched the woman. When women claim sexual harassment, it is a big crime and the man could possible face severe charges. There are many truths to a story because we all have different perspectives.
Based on this view, we can say that fact is “objective” while truth is “subjective”. Someone’s truth may be another person’s lie.
There can be many truths, depending on perspectives or different events and viewpoints. But, there is only one fact.
Likewise, there are many things that happen around us daily that we may not even be aware of them. Sometimes, we’ll never know what the truth is. No matter how long we ponder over a situation or consider different reasons and perspectives of truths, the reality is ambiguous. So we had better focus on the facts.
Focus on how to solve a problem and try not to pick the different truths apart. It’s quite easy for humans to deceive others, and hide the truth underneath lies, but facts never lie.
Well, in order to protect ourselves, we should remember that our lives are based on a proverb – “You reap what you sow.” We must take responsibility for what we do. “Texting while walking” will put oneself in danger, “no preparation, mentally or physically” can leave one defenseless and could put one’s self at a disadvantage, “doing something wrong while trying not to be caught” could be found out someday. Any faults lie on our bad or unprepared behaviors.