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Truth and how it’s communicated
There is an age-old question, the answer to which is earnestly important to all of us at all times: “What is truth?” There are those who would define it as a relative term—those who would say that what is commonly thought to be true by the constituted authorities of any particular time or place is true for that time or place.
That is to say, what is generally believed to be true today is true for this day. But to say this is also to say that what was believed to be true yesterday was true yesterday.
In other words, if a man stands in the pulpit or at the marketplace or in the classroom and proclaims what he and his generation believe to be the truth, it is said by some that he is telling the truth. This sounds very plausible until we reduce it to specific cases. There was a generation that believed and proclaimed that the world was flat.
They were sincere in this belief, and they thought they were proclaiming truth, but that didn’t make the world flat, and the truth was and is that the world was not and is not flat. And so we could go on multiplying examples of what people have believed and have not believed, suddenly to come to the realisation that no matter what men at a given time happen to believe, if it isn’t true, their belief doesn’t make it true.
Truth cannot be made or unmade by arbitrary authority, nor by the belief or unbelief of any man or any generation of men. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” But a falsehood or an error couldn’t make a man free. Indeed, it would shackle him with chains of ignorance. And so, we must come to the conclusion that truth is not an unpredictable variable but a determinable constant.
Popular conception of what constitutes truth can change, but not truth, for “truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come.” And it doesn’t matter where it is found or who discovers it, it is the common property of the whole universe.
Our knowledge of it may increase; our ignorance concerning it may be profound; our willingness or unwillingness to accept it may vary, but what is fundamentally true today will always be true.
Truth is eternal, and never shall we be called upon by that God whose glory is intelligence and whose first law is order, to discard any fragment of truth, scientific or religious or whatever men may call it, but assuredly we may expect to be called upon to discard a good many of our theories and opinions.
There is a sentence from one of the writings of Samuel Taylor Coleridge that suggests a deeply significant subject: “Veracity,” he said, “does not consist in saying, but in the intention of communicating truth.”Too often it is assumed that the truth has been told if someone simply says the right words.
Too often it is assumed that a person has told the truth when actually he has told a half-truth and withheld the other half. But a person hasn’t told the truth when he has deliberately left a false impression, no matter what words he has used or how he has used them.
Men may mislead other men by the inflection of their voices, by insinuation and innuendo, by gesture, by what they suggest rather than by what they say, and by what they leave unsaid.
They may say so much and imply much more, and then hide behind the literal limits of language. In many such ways men frequently falsify and often we could not legally prove that they had perpetrated an untruth, yet morally we may know that they intended not to tell the truth.
There are those who, as Isaiah indicts them, “Make a man an offender for a word”those who resort to slick, legal loopholes, those who insincerely rely upon the letter of the law and ignore every intention of honour and honesty.
Words can be wonderful, but whatever our words we shall ultimately have to answer for the broad intent of our actions and utterances not merely for legal terminology or technicalities, not merely for the letter of the law.
The whole intent of a man, what he means to do and what he means not to do, what he means to say and what he means not to say, what he thinks in his heart, what he is in, his soul, are all involved in “telling” the truth; for which we are all accountable before our fellow men and before our eternal Father.
God grant that in our time we may hear and know and speak and write and live the truth, not rely on tricky technicalities or, legal loopholes or ambiguous utterance that is a mere mask for falsehood.
To close with the words with which we opened: “Veracity does not consist in saying, but in the intention of communicating truth.”The mere appearance of truthfulness is not enough.
Troubled and anxious citizens in Damongo of the Savannah Region have expressed concerns about the number of young people, believed to be under the age of 18, involved in ‘shisha’ smoking in pubs and drinking spots within the township.
Eyewitnesses say the minors were seen patronising nightlife venues, where Shisha smoking happen in the open.
The situation has sparked renewed public concern over the enforcement of child protection laws and regulations governing the operations of entertainment centres in the municipality and country as a whole.
An eyewitness, who spoke to The Spectator on conditions of anonymity for security reasons, noted that the situation was becoming increasingly common.
“This is not a one-off incident. It is becoming very common, but residents like us cannot openly report or speak about it because our lives will be at risk,” he said.
Under Ghanaian law, minors were prohibited from patronising Shisha.
Public health experts have consistently warned that shisha use exposes users to harmful substances that can negatively affect brain development, respiratory health, and overall well-being, particularly among young people.
The residents believe the alleged incidents point to broader challenges relating to youth supervision, substance abuse, and weak enforcement of existing regulations and have called on municipal authorities, security agencies, and regulatory bodies to intensify monitoring of pubs and entertainment centres to ensure compliance with the law.
In an effort to address the menace, Mr Salisu Be-Awurbi, the Savannah Regional Minister, has led public education campaigns, engaged security agencies, and supported enforcement actions to address the rising use of illicit substances in the region.
Wura Kelly Seidu Boresah I, the Chief of Damongo, has also called on all stakeholders including parents, community leaders, institutions, and young people to actively support efforts to curb drug abuse, warning that the rising consumption of hard drugs poses a serious health threat to the future of the youth in the Savannah Region.
He also cautioned individuals involved in the sale and distribution of illicit drugs to immediately desist from the practice, stressing that offenders will face arrest and prosecution in accordance with the law.
From Geoffrey Buta, Damongo, Savannah Region
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Dr Theresa Baffour, an advocate for ending violence and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SAHM SAHW Foundation, has said that society plays a critical and pivotal role in breaking the cycle of domestic violence.
According to her, domestic violence is a major contributor of making women, who are mostly the victims, mentally derailed and unable to engage in economic activities.
She said this when the foundation called on the Ga Mantse, Nii Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, to solicit support for the initiative by the “Strong and Healthy Minds, Strong and Healthy Women” (SAHM SAHW) to combat domestic violence within the Ga State.
The visit was occasioned by the fact that domestic violence cases have become quite prevalent in the Ga communities and is retarding growth.
According to her, the canker was an impediment to national development because the victims were usually tortured and would have to go through series of therapies to return to the right state of mind.
Dr Baffour mentioned that Gender-Based Violence (GBV) places a mental toll on women, and was, therefore, important to break the cycle through comprehensive mental health support, crisis intervention and empowerment programmes in communities with high rates of GBV.
This intervention, she underscored, would help in empowering the denigrated victim of domestic violence to soundly heal, build and thrive.
Dr Baffour added that the initiative would provide holistic, trauma-informed mental health care and advocacy for young women affected by domestic violence.
According to her, the above statement would create safe spaces for healing and equipping them with entrepreneurial skills for renewed hope and empowered life.
The Ga Mantse pledged his support for the laudable initiative to combat domestic violence and also acknowledged the need to address it in the Ga State.
Further endorsement came from Justice Julia Naa-Yarley Adjei Amoah, Chief of Staff at the Office of the Ga Mantse, as she commended the team of SAHM SAHW Foundation for taking a bold step to end the canker in the Greater Accra.
She added that it was a step in the right direction to save vulnerable women from torture, stress and emotional abuse.
By Alfred Nii Arday Ankrah
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