Facts Are Stubborn Things

It isn’t always easy to face facts. Often there are things we wish were true which aren’t, and things we wish weren’t true which are. Even the simplest truths can be distasteful if they interfere with our accustomed ways of living and thinking. And often it would seem to be more comfortable to close our eyes to reality and say it isn’t so. But we cannot safely assume that something isn’t so that is so. Of course, there is the ever-present possibility of mental juggling, of tampering with the books, of trying to talk ourselves out of things that are, or into things that aren’t. But trying to explain away truth and reality is somewhat like trying to change the weather by tampering with the barometer. The instrument is only useful if we let it tell the truth. And the weather doesn’t change when we alter the indicator. Tampering merely makes a false instrument. It often happens that we mistake the appearance for the reality, the intention for the performance, the surface for the substance. But no matter how sound something seems, if the substance isn’t there, it isn’t there. There are truths which are irrevocable whether or not they are comfortable or convenient. There are realities which must be taken into account, whether or not we wish it were otherwise. In business, in public affairs, and in our personal lives, we need the wisdom, the courage, and the honesty to face the facts. No matter what the indicator shows, it is safest to recognize reality and to face the facts for “facts are stubborn things.”