When in Possession of the Unjust, Truth can Lead to Injustice

   If it is not used right, truth can be the weapon of injustice.
   I lost a good Facebook friend this week. I blistered him with the truth. Oh, I was gentle and kind in what I said. But I was public. I exposed him. I unmasked him.
  With no thought of that incident, yesterday I was blogging and wrote: "We should wonder at ourselves, as a society, and of how in this day and age, we revel in finding fault, in finding flaws and making those we find with them, pay for them. We feel ourselves the doers of good to find and exploit and correct the faults of others, to unmask them for their flaws and put them to shame. Rather than showing love for them, we heap upon them humiliation and rejection."
   Aye, I am the villain, here. It is I who sought to unmask someone. He had said everything in a report from a Church lawyer about a voters' initiative on marijuana was false, and we had agreed to discuss it and started down the list of things the Church said, examining them, and each thing the Church had said was coming back as a truth.
   I wanted the public -- his readers -- to know he was not being fair. I wanted him exposed. So, I tore off his mask.
   And, lost a friend.
   Today, reading Boyd Matheson's column in the Deseret News, I find a wonderful gem of wisdom. Says the Sage One:
   "Few things are more jarring than a truth spoken at the worst possible moment. The I-told-you-so truth, while still truth, does little to elevate others, create space for learning or improve a situation. Hitting people over the head with truth in the heat of an argument is contrary to the nature and power of truth."
   If truth is to be a power for good, it must be used for good. Most anything can be abused, and that includes truth. When it is in possession of a person with bad intentions, truth can be the weapon of injustice. Indeed, when it is in the possession of those of us with good intentions, if we do not use it correctly, truth can do great damage.
   When a doctor goes into do surgery, he isn't slamming things around. He moves them delicately. So it is with truth. It must be handled delicately or great damage will be done.