“However, take care and be earnestly on your guard
not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen,
nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live,
but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.”
Dt 4:1, 5-9

Today's reading falls under very good timing, because Japan is confabulating the truth about Dokdo (=an island located between Japan and Korea) and insisting that Korea is declaring false property rights (or "occupying") their land. Amidst all the chaos and pity, they still have the energy to care so much about what gets passed down to their children in the textbook.

They want to take the easy way out.

How simple is it to just twig a few facts and turn one thing to a complete new statement? Many times in our lives, we are tempted to lie. We are tempted to leave out what ought to be heard, expand what actually was minimal, and decorate what in truth is hideous.

As I get older, I realize more how difficult it is to be truthful and receptive of our own nature, often because our own world collides with that of the others. We can say whatever we'd like to say--it's an easy way out of the moment.

However, I hope I remember that what is kept sacred always lasts longer alas.