Man has long journeyed to find truth. In a world of illusion and half-truth we have longed for the assurance of the seen and unseen, the shadows of Plato writ large and tangible. We have found answers that suffice, and answers that have the smell of authenticity…
…yet still we search.
Man has long sought beauty. Not the beauty that is borne of illusion, nor the beauty that will fade with age. Rather we search for beauty that transcends time in it’s splendor and glory. We find it in fleeting and holy moments…
…yet still we search. Memories we hold and shared moments we cherish, yet still…
So I decided to venture around the country, in search of truth and beauty. Tangible experiences that would forever alter my life and make of it a life that is not simply a span of years, but rather the better part of a century that held poignant meaning, timeless truth, and transcendent beauty.
Truth by itself proved hard to find. Lies, distortion and half-truth seemed the order of the day, and I was guilty of it myself. When asked by the cashier at Safeway how I am doing, I don’t say, “I’m a little worried about the size of the Alabama defensive front.” I say, “Real good.” With that kind of lack of commitment to the truth how can I hope to find it.
Yet search for it, I must.
I found truth without beauty many places. None more so than on the nutrition list of my favorite foods. Sodium? Uh-huh. Sugar? You betcha. Carbohydrates? More than you know. Simple unadorned truth that it is probably essential that I know. Truth that is unappealing to my sight.
Nutrition information for one Ding Dong
I went to Washington D.C., the seat of American government and information on my search for truth and beauty. It was not surprising to me that I found one and not the other. What surprised me was which one it was. Lo and behold it was there that I found beauty…but not truth.
I had crisscrossed the country, and was weary from the task. Was this going to be the closest that I came to truth and beauty? Truth but no beauty? Beauty but no truth? I had one more place to try to find what I was looking for. A place known more for it’s grit than it’s beauty, yet known more for it’s glitz than it’s truth. Surely that wasn’t going to be where truth and beauty would intersect for me. Was it?
The Beautiful Truth. Kenjon Barner into the end zone v. U.S.C.
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Kim Hastings is a 1984 graduate of Northwest Christian College. He cut his journalistic teeth as sports editor of a paper in his home town of Fortuna, CA, and, later as a columnist for the Longview Daily News in Longview, WA.
He saw his first Oregon game in 1977 and never missed a home game from 1981 until a bout with pneumonia cut his streak short in 1997. He was one of the proud 3200 on a bitterly cold night in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1989 for the Independence Bowl, and continues to be big supporter of Oregon sports. He is an active participant on the various Oregon Ducks messageboards as “TacomaDuck.”