Week 5: Three Sides to Every Story - Yours, Mine, and the Truth

There is a certain amount of accuracy in the statement about "Three Sides". When we tell stories, we are telling them from our own perspective. There is a bit of a filtration that happens where we relate events through our own lens and experiences. Just as someone else would share a story from their perspective. I think that the "truth" is a bit of a misnomer though...there are facts like, "we were at this place, it was this date, so and so was there, you said this, I said that...", but all the rest is our perspective of those facts.

Fluidity in writing happens because of distance, perspective, and experience; distance from the event, our perspective of the facts, and our growth/age/reflection/experience shape our recollection of an event. Fluidity to me isn’t an untruth, rather it is an evolving understanding and shifting version of one’s perspective. As an example, for me to say that I once sprained my leg and developed an opioid addiction that spiraled me down into a struggle with substance abuse, failed relationships, lies, shame, and a repetitive cycle of failed rehabilitation would be a complete and total fabrication. But for me to reflect upon the time that I sprained my leg and inject how I felt then based on who I am now isn’t necessarily untrue, but it is a changing understanding of the event and how it shaped/impacted me.

I’m not one who reads many memoirs. When I’m not reading textbooks I tend to indulge in fiction or films as my source of entertainment. However, I wandered over to my bookshelf for this post and found two memoirs that I totally forgot I had read: “American Sniper” by Chris Kyle and “Lone Survivor” by Marcus Luttrell. I know these are both films, but before watching them I decided to read the books. I also read, but could not find, Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”. I’m not a fan of war, but for some reason I’ve found these stories so compelling. Probably my favorite of the three is “American Sniper” (https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062290793/american-sniper/)  For those who haven’t read it the book follows the story of Chris Kyle. He works on a ranch as a cowboy with a career in rodeo all but over. He is searching for his purpose since college wasn’t for him and decides to enlist in the Navy and then to become a SEAL. After the terrorist strikes of 9/11 he is sent to Iraq where he talks about his experiences as a sniper. His story follows the experiences “in country”, the loss of close friends, and the challenges in acclimating back to a life at home away from the war. The story ends with him finding a post-war purpose and bringing his life back into focus after his service. Toward the end of the book Mr. Kyle writes, “I’m not the same guy I was when I first went to war. No one is. Before you’re in combat, you have this innocence about you. Then, all of a sudden, you see this whole other side of life.”

I think it would be disappointing to know that Chris Kyle had blurred the lines between fact and fiction. I know that there had been some commentary/feedback about his book and criticism for things that he had said or included. But, I think that he is telling his story and experience through his vantage point and his memory/recollection of events. It’s almost certainly skewed through his lens, but as long as he hasn’t told outright untruths or made stories up (like James Frey’s “A Million Little Pieces”) I can live with and accept what is in the book as Chris Kyle’s truth.

I think that this story would have been an interesting blog. In the book Mr. Kyle describes events and activities that his team undertook in an effort to “win” the war on terrorism. However, I think those things would be less critical to discuss in a blog and the focus would be better served to talk about his mental and emotional challenges after his war experience. It feels like it could be something that would be focused on war veterans as a way to relate/understand what they’re experiencing as well as serving as something for civilians to understand the effects that war has on service men and women. Almost like an online “support group” blog. Overall, I feel like Mr. Kyle could have served as an inspiration to many people in regards to processing feelings and finding hope/purpose after going through such a difficult experience like fighting in a war.