I was inspired by this awesome diary (More Myths That Are Killing Us) to work toward the same goal from the opposite direction; i.e. list a few, simple truths that can make us (as a nation) stronger.
Of course, I don't expect everyone will accept them as truths, but that has never stopped me. Give me your suggestions/feedback/uninterested silence after the fleur-de-Kos.
10 Truths That Can Make Us Stronger:
1. No one ever changed anything by accepting it the way it is.
2. No one is "unreachable", and
2a. Not everyone has a right to demand to be "reached".
3. Failure is indeed an option. In fact, it's a pretty popular one.
4. The center is still left of the right, and
4a. The center is still right of the left.
5. We don't negotiate with terrorists people who are trying to subjugate women, and
5a. We shouldn't negotiate with people who are trying to subjugate anyone.
6. Even the feeblest grasp exceeds the hand that doesn't reach.
7. (Totally stealing from The Daily Show writers, here) If the Constitution had been meant to be written in stone, it would have been written in stone.
8. Strong movements are built from the ground up, not from the top down.
9. (Shout out to the Clintons, here) It's the economy, stupid.
10. A mirror is a better change agent than a pointed finger.
Some of these are self-evident, some are vague, some are borrowed, and all are heartfelt. I truly believe that you can't change things you don't want to change, that some who are dismissed as beyond help aren't, that it's okay to fail - a lot, that we should call things what they are, that we should never allow ourselves to become by inaction complicit with tyranny and oppression, that small gains are better than no gains, that we shouldn't trap ourselves in inflexibility, that a comfortable living is a key to fulfilling our goals of equality, freedom, peace, and justice, that it's better to achieve our goals than be given them, and that changing ourselves is the first step to changing everything else.
It is important dispel myths where we find them. It's also important to affirm the truth when we know it. One doesn't work so well without the other.
Peace.