• Creativity in Cold Lentils
• Recovering Hope
• Truth Is A Two-Way Street
• Our chance to stand in solidarity
• Human Rights: a common meeting place?
• The Heart of God
• Dare to Dream
• Learning to Listen
• Finding meaning in the experience
• Towards An Understanding of Home
• Silence
• Peregrinasaun Haksolok Hamutuk
• Peace
• The Big Show
• Weakness and Strength
• United in Peace
• The Ring
• ACUSA
• People as seeds of hope and change
• Being Grateful
• In the midst of 250,000 people
• UN World Habitat Day
• Praying The Rosary
• I Want To Make A Difference
• How Fragile we are
• The Challenge of email
• Being Socially Responsible
• Thirsting for Knowledge
• The Lord is my Shepherd
• Archived Thoughts of the Week
• An Idea

The guiding motto of my school was veritas, and perhaps, because of this, the principle of truth has been paramount through my life. Recent events in Burma have focussed attention on truth and its impact on community and society as a whole. The Iranian writer, Idries Shah, described truth as a scarce commodity and therefore expensive - but maybe it is actually the lack of truth which is so costly. The impact of this lack can be seen in the recent catastrophic events in Burma, where fear of many things has led to an attempt to hide the truth – the extent of the damage, the casualties and the ability to deal with the situation.

But the truth is not so easy to hide these days. In the streets of Rangoon, it is possible to buy DVD footage of the cyclone hitting, the damage done and, indeed, the situation of people on the ground right now. People take risks to get this footage out to the world. A woman interviewed in a taxi said that she knew there were ships waiting to be unloaded off the coast.

So truth is a two-way street. Diplomatic pressure from the highest level and evidence which is irrefutable must, at the very least, cause heated discussion amongst those who would try to hide the facts and close the doors. Hopefully, in the end, truth will be less of a scarce commodity and more of a shared acknowledgement of our humanity.

• Cecilia Liddle
• ACUcom,
• Melbourne