Tell the truth

Wow, I'm suddenly writing more here.

Photo from this web site.

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At the end of one of my favorite movies, “Lost in Translation,” Bill Murray’s character whispers something inaudible into Scarlett Johansson’s character’s ear (pictured here).

After watching it and replaying it a few times, reading his lips, my conclusion is that he whispers “Tell the truth.”

Johansson’s character, Charlotte, is a writer. She graduated with a “useless” degree in Philosophy (not so different from an English degree, I suppose). She’s searching for meaning, a calling. Mostly, she wants to write.

Shakespeare wrote “to thine own self be true,” spoken by Polonius in Hamlet. And actually, Bill Murray played Polonius in Ethan Hawke’s “Hamlet” film, according to Wiki, so it would be a nice connection.

Is there a difference between telling the truth and being true to yourself?

For us who write, telling the truth can mean:

* not sugarcoating it
* writing about what we know, telling our own story
* being bold when necessary
* being original, bucking trends

Is this different from being true to oneself?

* living in reality, not denial
* living out our own story
* being bold about who we are
* being different when necessary

Telling the truth and being true -- both require thought and reflection in a slow cadence, on a daily basis. Everything around us is too crazy, too wild, too fast, too controlling for us NOT to pay attention to our own mind, our own heart. Stop the world, I want to get off! At least for a few minutes, every day.