How many lives will be lost
From our lies, the human cost.
Find out how lies ruin individuals and institutions in our Truth in Two (full text below).
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Pictures: Josh Collingwood, SnappyGoat, Wikipedia
FULL TEXT
“What is the cost of lies?” This is one of the key concerns in the five-part 2019 miniseries Chernobyl. Some may remember the nuclear accident that occurred on Russian soil in 1986. If you have not seen the program, I highly recommend it, as a universal, human warning. The story is told, much like Apollo 13: we already know the ending. But the narrative is so well told, it deserves its 96% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. The viewer feels every character’s emotion.
Yet, the case of Chernobyl is not simply about a nuclear accident – as horrendous as that event was for the people who lived it. If I were to summarize the miniseries, I could do so in one word: lies. For those who know something of the old U.S.S.R. or The Soviet Union, you may remember that this was one of many totalitarian regimes during the 20th century. Like all dictatorial rule, those at the top want to keep everyone in line. Everything is controlled, even words. And the words used by the managers of the Communist regime were lies, lies to deceive, lies to cover up, lies to control.
Toward the end of the last episode, the main character, one of the key figures involved in the actual events, says this about his country,
“Our lies are practically what define us. When the truth offends, we lie, and lie, until we can no longer remember truth is even there. Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later that debt is paid.”
When I spoke earlier about a “universal human warning” I was not speaking of nuclear power. I was speaking of the power of telling the truth, standing against lies. Every individual, every people group, everywhere, will at some point confront the cost of telling the truth. At Chernobyl, the cost can be counted in human lives. For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking and telling the truth, wherever it’s found.