Chernobyl, 2019

 

When the truth offends, we lie and lie
until we can no longer remember it is even there.
But it is still there.
Every lie we tell incurs a dept to the truth.
Sooner or later, that dept is paid.

To be a scientist is to be naive.
We are so focused on our search for truth,
we fail to consider how few actually want us to find it.
But it is always there, whether we see it or not,
whether we choose to or not.
The truth doesn’t care about our needs or wants.
It doesn’t care about our governments,
our ideologies, our religions.
It will lie in wait for all time
And this, at last, is the gift of Chernobyl.
Where I once would fear the cost of truth,
now I only ask : What is the cost of lies?