Just the Facts

"First get your facts straight; then you may distort them as much as you please."  -Mark Twain

Yesterday, I started my Mark Twain appearances at the Mark Twain Museum.  I will be there through Labor Day from Monday to Friday at 2:30 pm.  Each day, I say a few words, make myself available for photographs, and answer questions.  This is all in character.  As an actor, off-stage work is the most challenging, but it is also a lot of fun.  I never know what will happen.

Last summer, a lady asked, "Could you tell me about your death Mr. Clemens?"  As Mark Twain, I replied, "You tell me about your death, and I will tell you about mine."  We all laughed.  A man one day asked, "Where are you buried?"  I replied, "I am buried and suffer under a whole world of nonsense.  It is absolutely suffocating." 

In the middle of one Q and A, a man raised his hand and said, "I understand you were a deserter during the Civil War."  I was amazed.  In Twain's own words I explained that Sam Clemens never joined the army but was a member of a local Missouri militia unit called Marion Rangers.  When the unit disbanded, he went west with his brother Orion.  Facts are facts and really not open to rearrangement.

This exchange took me back to Mr. Clemens statement on facts and how we play fast and loose with the facts.  It seems to me that most of us today form our beliefs first, then we search for facts to support our beliefs.  In politics both Democrats and Republicans seem to be on a mission to find any supporting evidence to bolster their politics.  This spring a teenager informed me that to her facts are very confusing.  Perhaps, facts are inconvenient for all of us.

Perhaps all of us should get our facts straight.  At least we should consider the facts because sooner or later we may have to face the facts.