By Mike Lavelle
One of my favorite authors and thinkers is Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius (121 -180 AD). I recently read one of his quotes where he indicated, “If anyone can refute me show me I’m making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective I’ll gladly change. It’s the truth I’m after, and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance.” Meditations, VI, 21.
The past year has challenged many of us, in many ways. The news and social media have presented various and often conflicting truth claims regarding important issues regarding the election and the corona virus, among other things.
I am confident that the vast majority of us do not possess all truth and most of us do want to know the truth. And yet, there has to be some areas in which we have a wrong perspective. Marcus understood this very well. As we go forward this year, Marcus’s perspective is worth pondering.
Mike Lavelle is retired and formerly worked part-time as the editor at The Vail Voice. He lived in the Del Webb community in Vail but now resides in Sierra Vista.
