White Elephant's Beard??

Have you ever played that game called, "Telephone"? You know the one.... one person whispers a phrase into the next person's ear, and by the time it goes around the circle, the phrase has gone from "Why is this so weird?" to "White elephant's beard." Everyone in the room bursts out into laughter, and the game starts over again.

You know it, right? Have you ever thought about how this translates into real life?

I have this ongoing banter with a close friend. Well, actually, I think I just come off as annoying to her, but she loves and tolerates me anyway. You see, I'm a question asker. Always have been, and always will be. When she tells me a story that begins with, "Did you know...." I always follow it up with, "Where did you hear that?" I don't mean to be a thorn in her side, but I want to know where the information came from, so I can find out if it's actually true. It's not because I don't trust her, that's not it at all. I just have this deep inner drive to seek facts, instead of just believing it because someone said it was true. If I don't find the truth for myself, I feel like I'm just playing a game of "Telephone" with real life, and that doesn't do me, or anyone else, any good.

Think about it... how many times a day do you hear someone start a sentence with, "Hey, did you know...." or "I heard that..."? That kind of discussion is so prominent in our society, that it becomes very difficult to discern the truth about anything. Stories get passed from ear to ear, rapidly morphing into personal interpretation like a chameleon on steroids. Eventually, the story is far from the facts, that the person who originally told it can hardly recognize it as their own. The truth is lost, and we are left passing on tales about which we know nothing.

The reality is, that if we would "hang up the telephone" more often, and seek the truth for ourselves, we would be a lot less confused. Now, I'm not saying we have to be in each other's faces with finger shaking doubt, but it could only benefit us to make sure the story is true, before passing it on as fact.

It's true for stories (or gossip) about people, but it's also true for everything else. That story you heard from Jack, who heard it from Melissa, who heard it from Jeff, who heard it on some random news show on television, has prooooobably been filtered a little bit, don't you think?


Hang. Up. The. Phone.


Seriously. Just hang it up. Don't pass it on until you know the true story! Find the facts for yourself, and let's be educated people, rather than mindless regurgitating machines.