Some of my early years were lived in a small town in Missouri just up the river from Hannibal. Naturally, we learned about Samuel Clemens and adventures awaiting us, if we just jumped into nature and used our imaginations. Under his pen name, Mark Twain wrote about adventures and journeys often intertwined with social commentary about challenges of the day. He is remembered as being a biting humorist, and one of his quotes that is particularly notable goes as such, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” (Mark Twain, date unknown)

Sorting fact from opinion ‘ain’t easy’. Sometimes, we hear an opinion so frequently that it’s taken as the truth. And sometimes, a perspective is just plain wrong, without any factual basis. So, what should we do? Well, we should question opinions. We should ask for sources and reference materials. We should scrutinize data, beliefs, and positions. We should acknowledge being wrong or not knowing. And we should not perpetuate myths. Honesty is abundant and available within everyone and doesn’t require a trip up the river to find it.