True Enough

Today, my topic is "True Enough."

Why?

The answer involves one movie, one excellent quote from another movie, and a story one of my friends told a couple of years ago.

Let's start with the story.

I went back to my hometown for my 30th high school class reunion because, while I had never been to a high school reunion before, we knew several people would be back who we wanted to see. Among these were June, Tim and Tom. [June & Tim are now married, but I digress.  Tom is the brother of my very close friend Pete. {Hi, Pete!  Tell Tom I was blogging about him.}]

As people will do on such weekends, old stories are told.  Tom told a story about his first day in the Decorah Public School system, as a brand new elementary student.  It was funny, but it was somewhat embarrassing, so my discretion prompts me to omit it here.  A bit later, June, Tim and I were discussing it, and someone wondered if the story was, in fact, true.

I replied "Well, it's true enough."

And what did I mean?  That's really the topic of the blog today.

Tom's story was funny. It also highlighted the trouble people often have moving to a new place, where no one knows them. It showed how easily first impressions can be very wrong, but have the potential to haunt a person for a long, long time.

So, the story might have been exactly true. But even if it was not, even if things didn't really go quite the way Tom told it, the point was made. And the point was clearer because of the way Tom told it. So, whether precisely true or not, it expressed truth in a very clear, memorable way.  So, to me, it was true -- enough.

I hadn't really intended to create a new concept -- I'm quite certain it's not precisely "new" in fact. But one of my favorite quotes about learning is this:

All truly wise thoughts have been thoughts already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe German dramatist, novelist, poet, and scientist (1749 - 1832)

Time marched on, and in the months since I first used the phrase, I have often thought about things which are "true enough."  When it came time for my annual viewing of "V for Vendetta" I re-encountered one of my favorite quotes from that movie.  In context here it is (bold is mine): [Thanks to ibdm.com]

Evey Hammond: My father was a writer. You would've liked him. He used to say that artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover the truth up.
V: A man after my own heart.

Now, the scientist/mathematician in me often views the world as if truth is clear cut.  Something is true, or it is not.  For many parts of my life, that is a useful way to view truth.

But the artistic side of me recognizes that another form of truth is often revealed by our artistic endeavors.  Evey's father got that right.  And I was reminded of that again just a couple of nights ago.

I watched one of my favorite drama/comedy/fantasy movies of all time, "Big Fish."

Please, if you haven't seen "Big Fish" consider this an extremely strong recommendation to see it.  As I tweeted right after I saw it again:

"Big Fish" chokes me up. Every. Single. Time.

In the film, Will Bloom (Billy Crudup) is a 30 year old man, about to become a father, whose own father -- Edward Bloom played by Albert Finney as Old Edward and Ewan MacGregor as Young (or Mythical) Edward -- is dying.  Edward Bloom is a story teller.  Throughout his life, he has told stories of his experiences/  He always has one and because they are clearly not completely possible, Will believes they are not true, so they are lies.  But are they all lies?  Or is there some truth in them which will allow Will to understand his father, which will allow some level of reconciliation, before it is too late?

The stories are quite entertaining.  See the film.  Really.  But the point, for purposes of this blog, is that sometimes the value of the truth of a story lies in whether it is "True Enough."

There are times when precise truth is required.  But often, to touch a person's heart in the deepest, most personal ways, it is better to use something which is "True Enough."

And that, my friends, is what art is all about.