Coming to It

Anna Fink

Dr. Mark Schuler

Honors

29 September 2008

Coming to It

It is especially now, before the elections, that talk of the war seems everywhere. I was able to see some various opinions on the issue protesting each other. On Labor Day this fall hundreds of people gathered outside St. Paul's capital and protested the war. People held signs that shouted, "Make out, not war," and the like. Just down the street another group rallied; their signs read, "Let our troops win." These different opinions both revolved around the issue Maya Angelou brings light to in her poem, "A Brave and Startling Truth."

We have been told in our honors class this year that there are four different types of truths: subjective, relative, objective, and absolute. Subjective truths change for each individual person. They can be summed up in the phrase, "It's true for you," and have close ties to postmodernism. Relative truths only exist when there is another object to compare it to. Objective truths are testable. Absolute truths hold true no matter what the situation is. A list a basic truths has been made, evaluated, and mentioned over and over again in this class. These basic truths fit into the absolute truth. They are true universally.

While I was reading the poem, it became apparent that Maya Angelo wanted her startling truth to be listed as one that fits into the absolute category. I believe she was referring to the universal "love." Love for what? She urges love for others. She begs for peace. "When we let the rifles fall from our shoulders, and children dress their dolls in flags of truce," this is when we come to love. This is when love becomes apparent n the world.

I do not completely agree. To have a truth we learned it must correspond to reality, and just my eighteen years here have taught me that there will never be peace. Sin taints this world, but does that mean that there is no love? Her universal truth is correct. Love is a brave and startling truth, but she is trying to say that we can only come to love once the world is at peace. There will never be a global overtake of love where everyone puts others first, but love can happen to individuals. Maya Angelo's dream is wonderful, but not realistic.