One of the most fundamental needs of an person, especially one in a community, is truth. An individual must center his life around this virtue, so that he can live honestly and meaningfully impact his small world. The most influential and meaningful life is one which upholds truthfulness, especially in the community.
A young man lazily lies in a barn, mourning the loss of his wife and child. After they died, his perpetual state of gloom deters everyone from approaching him.
Hard Truth to Swallow
Hearing the young man’s words, the swallows begin chattering. They wonder at him and hurl reproachful words back at him. One swallow says, “We work harder than he does any day. ... How many of his neighbors does he help? How much of the world does he see, and who is the happier for his being alive?”One of the swallows, Mrs. Dart, empathizes with him, for she too lost loved ones: her husband, children, and mother. Yet she bears her sorrows cheerfully and well. Never allowing herself to be too overcome with sorrow, she seeks to aid the other swallows around her.
Mrs. Wing, fond of expressing her opinions openly, scolds the young man severely: “Now, look at that man, and see how he wastes his life. There never was any one with a better chance for doing good, and being happy; and yet he mopes and dawdles his time away most shamefully.”
Mrs. Dart agrees and only wishes that someone would tell the young man the truth, so that he could rise from his sorrowful ways. All the swallows agree, if he rises from his sorrow, the young man could help his neighbors.
Lame little Will, they say, grows more and more ill and cannot afford a good doctor. Old Father Winter grows older and more weary, forsaken in his lonely hovel. Pretty Nell grows weaker as she works to support both herself and her father. The swallows name many more neighbors whom the young man could aid with his unused wealth and resources.
While they pity and scold him, little do the swallows know that the young man can understand and hear them.
Through this story, Alcott highlights the importance of truth. Most importantly, she highlights the importance for the individual to face reality, no matter how hard it is to swallow. Only by adopting verity can the individual correct his life and meaningfully contribute to his community.
As Winston S. Churchill said: “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”
Yet Alcott encourages the individual, when he stumbles over truth, to accept it into his life, just like the sorrowing young man. Perhaps he has found comfort in his grief within the arms of a community that needs him.
