Half truths

Teenagers can be famous for telling them.

Some people are addicted to them.

Others can't get away from them.

Cults use them to attract and retain followers.

What are "them"?

"Them" are half-truths.

Something we take for being totally true - but in reality is partially false.

Recently, Subway made the news when various news organizations pointed out that their $5.00 foot long sandwich was actually 11 inches instead of 12.

In article by Linton Weeks entitled, "Half-truths we can live with,"gives us a few more half-truths:

1.  Peanuts are not really nuts (and neither are cashews or Brazil nuts).  Walnuts, pecans, and chestnuts are really nuts, but peanuts are actually legumes.

2.  The American buffalo is a bison, not a buffalo.  It is part of the Bovidae family, which includes domestic cattle and goats.

3.  A koala bear is not a bear; it is a marsupial.

4.  A palm tree is not a tree.  Palms trees belong to the monocot family of flowering plants, which also includes grasses and grains.

5.  "Swollen glands" are not actually glands; they are a series of lymph nodes.

6.  A mountain goat is not really a goat.

7.  Pink is not exactly a color.  Physicists claim that pink should really be called "minus green" because 'Pink" is just the leftovers of white light when you take out the green.

Some people tell half-truths by simply not telling the whole truth.

I've come across people like that - and so have you.

It isn't that what they are saying is a direct lie - it's that they leave out the part of the story that could change the way people treat them or react to them.

In the long run - we can never go wrong doing the right thing - which is telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth - so help you God.

Just a thought for a Thursday.