Truth, Where Are You?

Ever noticed how hard it is to find truth? Take a topic, let's say breastfeeding. Tell me who is right about how long a mother should breastfeed. Any doctor following the guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics will tell you one year is right. However, there are those lovely ladies associated with the Le Leche League, European moms, South American moms, and Dr. Sears who say breastfeed your baby into the toddler years, and gasp, even on to his preschool years if you like.

I'm not worried about breastfeeding now but there are plenty of topics where I'd like to know the honest truth. Is there one truth out there for any topic? Or, is truth subjective to an individual's experience and opinion? Is that truth anymore?

For example, I spent the last two years researching homeschooling. I read books and interviewed families who homeschooled. Most homeschool families tell me homeschool is wonderful, their kids are light years ahead of the peers academically, and socialization is a non-issue. My sweet babysitter is homeschooled. However, as soon as I talk to a public or private school parent, I hear a different story. Almost all say homeschooling would be "too hard" and they send their kids to school to socialize because its good for children to interact with a wide array of people. Most non-homeschoolers put their hand to their mouth as if to whisper a secret and give the biggest reason why they wouldn't homeschool, "homeschooled kids are weird."

Are they weird? Some are. There are some pretty neat ones too. Aren't there plenty of weird public schooled kids? Homeschooled kids are shown to soar above their public schooled peers in academics. So do the majority of Americans choose socialization or fear of not being socialized over academics?

I haven't put myself on a side because I haven't figured out the truth or if there is a truth.

Lastly, how about eating? Is there one right way to eat? Shouldn't there be? If you are LDS, you'll hand me the Word of Wisdom. The Word of Wisdom is great but its vague and open to interpretation in regards to meat. How much is sparingly? I'll give you many a Mormon vegetarian who says sparingly means hardly ever because we aren't in a famine. Read Eat to Live by Dr. Furhman and learn about the dangers of all meat eating with statistics and studies to substantiate his claims. I did and felt confident until my recent exchange with Adam the trainer at Fitness 19.

Adam's body is muscle and chiseled beauty. As we talked about meat and I made claims from Eat to Live, he took his hands and in a slow wave outlined his magnificent form. While so doing he asked rhetorically if I thought he could become such a man by eating beans and tofu. He says he feels like crap and can't reach his fitness goals when he doesn't eat animal protein.

I could give more topics but I'll stop for now. Has anyone else out there besides Joseph Smith been frustrated by how hard it is just to find the truth on almost any topic? There are just too many voices and darn opinions.