Originally broadcast on CHED Radio, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1964

I take a lot of ribbing at my house because I like filmed westerns.  I guess they are an escape for me as they are for many men.  Maybe they remind us of those glorious years we went through when we were kids, when we wanted nothing in life so much as to be a cowboy.  However, I pick up a lot of good ideas from some of these cowboy shows.  For example, this quote from big Ben Cartwright.  Ben said, "The hurt you feel when you tell the truth is a little shorter and less painful than the hurt you feel when you don't face the truth".  That line struck trip hammer hard and I immediately wrote it down.  How much simpler life would be if we would face the truth.  So often in our lives we turn away from the facts as we know them to be, simply because we know the truth will hurt someone else, or sometimes ourselves.  So many people today go through life living a complete lie.  When unpleasant situations arise at work or in the home, they turn away, hoping that time will change things.  So often people say things they don't mean and do things to which they are opposed simply because they can't bring themselves to look at the situation clearly and objectively.  And so they go on, waiting for the miracle that never comes.  I know it is not often easy to hurt someone with the truth but in most cases the truth is what is most urgently needed to clean up the conflicts in our lives.  Truth will often hurt, but always remember those words of Ben Cartwright.  "The hurt you feel when you tell the truth is a little shorter and a little less painful than the hurt you feel when you don't face the truth".