He who feels it knows it”, a reggae tune, is an experiential truth played out in so many scenes. There is something to be witnessed about having one’s appetite satisfied that shows even lions are pacified when full.

It may even be a safe thing to walk past a lion’s den after the lions’ bellies have already been filled, but the darker side happens when they are hungry and you look like the next meal. Sadly, there are some human, or not so human, tendencies that have characteristics predicated by levels of satiation also.

Ask the poor or destitute person on the street, or those incapacitated by physical or mental challenges, about persons and you will find their perception of people is different. Their perception is often truer because they face the raw humanity, or lack thereof, from persons on a daily basis.

Among many of the so-called sane and able, there is a façade or display of generosity to be seen by their peers, but which comes completely undone when a live need arises among the destitute.

Then there is the kind of myopia that follows class and privilege, where those on the inside of power circles cannot see or feel the effects of the oppression and tyranny that flow from their rule, and the herd that legitimises it.

Under any system, there are those who glow with acceptance and those classified personae non gratae. It is systemic oppression and today in many places, journalists feel like they are personae non gratae. Truth is too often the enemy of the state, and anyone who dares to give credence to honesty or be fair and just can easily become a victim.

Ignorance has always been a problem that besets human progress. Agendas, even so-called moral ones, can be problematic. We can see the devastation that religious conflict causes — political and ideological conflict is no less egregious. Both come with the same assumptions of knowing what’s best, often without the attached instruments of reasoning and an attitude of patience to arrive at a truth.

People are relegated and suffer oppression simply because they have a different opinion. Still worse is when opinions are ascribed to persons because of their colour, or their social or economic class. That behaviour is a form of false accusation and ostracism where a person’s truth and reality are veiled by lies.

Too many persons suffer that fate where there is systemic discrimination. I like to give biblical reference at times and one such typical attitude would be: “What good can come from Nazareth?”

For those whose passion is truth, they have to rely on one reality, which is “one word of truth is heavier than the entire universe”. This also means a person’s truth can never be vanquished when they stand.

Truth is not an essence of life; it is “the” essence of life. Those who rely on truth know that all the shenanigans and capriciousness will fail in their allotted time. Like the rotation of the sun and the moon, false attitudes and behaviours will face doom, but love and charity will prevail.