The picture above is a world famous painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme, "The Truth Coming Out Of Her Well." You can click right here to learn what Wikipedia has to say about the painting. Wikipedia Commons has a slightly different title, "The Truth Coming Out Of Her Well To Shame Mankind." Both these sources say that the painting was made in 1896.
I first came across this image on Facebook, thanks to a posting by a non-Facebook Friend named Tina Sage. I think Tina Sage called the image, "The Naked Truth." She accompanied her posting of the image with a story, which I am reproducing below.
While I always put my blog postings on Facebook, I don't put all my Facebook postings on my blog. If you read this blog with any regularity (which I definitely encourage), you can count your blessings that you don't have to confront my many Facebook statements on just about everything.
Not too long ago, driven by some Facebook algorithm which is beyond my comprehension, Facebook reminded me of my past Facebook posting, and I assumed that this image and story must certainly have been posted on my blog.
But apparently not!
As we confront world-shaking military confrontations in Ukraine, and political polarization at home, with "Truth" being mostly "Absent Without Leave," I think this story is worth repeating.
Here is what my November 28, 2020, posting to Facebook said:
THE NAKED TRUTH (Thanks to Tina Sage)
According to a 19th century legend, the Truth and the Lie met one day, and the Lie said to the Truth: "It's a marvelous day!" The Truth was skeptical, but looked up to the skies and sighed, for the day really was beautiful.
The Truth and the Lie spent a lot of time together during the day, and ultimately arrived beside a well. The Lie said to the Truth: "The water is very nice; let's take a bath together!" The Truth, once again suspicious, tested the water and discovered that it was, indeed, very nice.
So, the Truth and the Lie both undressed and started bathing. Suddenly, the Lie jumped out of the water, put on the clothes of the Truth and ran away. The furious Truth came out of the well and ran everywhere to find the Lie and to get her clothes back. The World, seeing the Truth naked, turned its gaze away, with contempt and rage.
Poor Truth felt compelled to return to the well, which is where she has disappeared forever, hiding her shame. Since that day, the Lie travels around the world, dressed as the Truth, satisfying the needs of society, because the World, in any case, harbors no wish at all to meet the naked Truth.
Image Credit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_Coming_Out_of_Her_Well
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