Fair Run

By Greg Rideout

Time: 10 a.m. 

Weather: 55 F. 

Route: Up Western Blvd. in Raleigh and greenway through N.C. State University and up Hillsborough to I-440 

Distance: More than 3 miles, less than 4 

I thought a lot about truth today as I ran through North Carolina State University and past Meredith College. It's an elusive concept that gets shaded by the world. We allow ourselves to be told lies all the time. That car will make you handsome or that perfume will make you attractive. We have let politicians and sales people shade the truth for so long that it becomes astonishing when they don't fudge or outright lie.

A good education allows us to know certain truths and detect the faults in logic when someone attempts to deceive us. I began wondering about the students learning in the buildings I passed. Do they seek truth? Is their privilege of extra knowledge allowing them to pick through distortions, fallacies and prevarications?

As I passed classroom buildings and trudged up hills, I allowed my mind to feel the effort, to let go of the tension inside that desired an easy answer.  I allowed thought of wisdom and of how we come to knowledge actively and ignorance passively. I do not believe in willful ignorance. People may learn the wrong things, but they don't stop knowing things. What does happen, though, is that a poor education (the fault of us, of our community) combined with cultural norms keep people from truth.

So, as I made my way along a very busy road, on the side of a road not meant for walking or running, I arrived at the ring of highway that surrounds Raleigh. I looked through the underpass to the State Fair, its Ferris Wheels and tall flags heralding the fun to be had. I smiled. I let go. Truth will be there after I take a walk through the fair. Truth is always there. It never leaves. It's waiting for us to see it.