A Truth Unclaimed is But a Lie

Dear Boo and Bubble,

After Captain’s foray into politics, I have great admiration and empathy for anyone who will offer to run for office.  In some cases, I don’t agree with their solutions to problems or their overall political stands, but that doesn’t diminish the sacrifices made in the name of public service. 

Much in our experience was positive, but there were times when such nastiness reared its ugly head, that I had doubts about the sanity of it all.  Some people (a very few) seem to find sport in the personal destruction of those who win an election.  With a great degree of stealth, they employ methods to undermine the credibility and character of the person.  The overwhelming favorite in tactic is the old-fashioned lie which seems to have the capacity to appear to be the truth if repeated enough.

Right after Captain was elected, I started getting phone calls at the house.  This raspy, breathy male voice on the other end of the line would say – “Mrs. Tally, did you know that your husband is running around on you?” The first couple of times it happened, I just hung up, but the person was very persistent and this was way before any type of caller-ID or answering machine, so I had no way of knowing who might be calling. I knew what he said wasn’t true and when I told Captain what was going on, we just laughed.  (He reassured me that if he ever did have an affair with somebody else, I’d be the first to know because he’d be so excited, he’d rush right home to tell me!)

Soon, I tired of the irritation and decided to take a different approach and engage the man.  The next time he called, the conversation went like this:

“Mrs. Tally, did you know that your husband is running around on you?”

“Oh really…..tell me more.”

Thinking that maybe he might be getting through to me, he continued:

“Well, I can certainly give you some names if you’d like.”

“Okay….sure…but the only name I’m really interested in is yours.  What is your name?”

There was silence, but I could still hear him breathing over the phone.  And so, I said –

“Let me tell you my rule.  If you won’t tell me who you are, then you aren’t telling the

truth.  And that makes you a liar.  I don’t believe liars and I’m sure nobody else does either.”

He hung up …… and I never heard from him again.