Argh! I hate it whenever anyone puts the word "my" in front of "truth" (cf. this).

so you think it should be- "I can't control perception, I can only breathe the truth..." or "I can't control perception, I can only breathe my perception..."?

Either way, you bring up an interesting thought.

But before I get into the interesting thought, I read the blurb you linked, and see his point. I don't know much about the topic, but I'm assuming McGreevey isn't using "his truth" to explain the things he's done. "I'm gay and that's why I appointed so-and-so on my staff" isn't much of an excuse. If he was straight and appointed his female to the position, it's just as bad. "His truth" about being gay isn't a defense against the rest of "the truth" talked about in the blurb. In fact here, "his" truth (he is gay) is "the" truth (he is gay). Now, when it comes to everything he's done, it's not the "whole" truth, obviously. I want to make sure you understand, I am not defending his actions or that he likes to "putt from the rough", I'm just talkin about the way "my truth" and "the truth" are being used. I completely agree with:

"...whose [McGreevey] I-am-what-I-am confessional ("my" truth) is a tactical feint that distracts the media sob sisters from the fact that, as his final service to the Democratic Party, he’s resigned in such a way as to deny the people an early vote on his successor."

And I think he sucks.

On to the interesting thought.

I don't think anybody really knows the truth about themselves, let alone others. You, Justin, and I have spoken about this one time outside of that coffee house. While "my truth" is probably not the best way to illustrate this, I still like the idea of showing that what you are saying about yourself is what you think to be the truth. I think we know very little about ourselves. For example, when asked about a certain hypothetical situation, you might say you would do this or that. But you wouldn't really know what you would do until you were actually in the situation.
"My truth" only makes sense when talking about yourself. You wouldn't say- "Well, my truth is the Earth is round." That's "the" truth. If "your" truth is the Earth is flat, then it's not "the" truth, and you're just insane.

Anyways, I've always thought the idea of how little you can know about yourself, or your closest friends, is intriguing. For example, say you're married and deeply in love. You'd be sure that you knew that person very well. But one night of being unfaithful, and that person can suddenly feel like a complete stranger.

I see "my" truth as a simple way to say- "What I believe to be the truth about myself, but I can be wrong."

Also, none of this was the point (be yourself and don't worry about what strangers think) of my post, thanks Keith, for missing my point in the first place.

But to relate it to this post, one of "my" truths is that I am not arrogant or obnoxious, I just try to be myself and not worry about what others think. "The" truth could be that I am arrogant and obnoxious. The use of "my" shows that I really don't know. We are always able to surprise ourselves and learn about ourselves, no matter what age we are. The only way that is possible is if we didn't know that much about ourselves to begin with. Yes, we have a general outline, but I see many gaps.

But, besides God, does anyone know "the" truth when it comes to any person? The only thing I know about myself (character-wise), with absolute certainty, is that I'm not good enough to go to Heaven on my own. Besides that I don't think I know any other "the truths" about myself.

Angel, Brian, James, actually most of you- if you've made it this far, my complete lack of knowledge of Geography is not about character; I'm just not smart.

WOW! That's all I have to say.

I'd like to take credit for this idea of self-awareness, but I can't, nor do I really believe it fully. But it's not as fun playing Devil's Advocate if you don't argue as if you really believe what your talkin about. It wasn't really DA since Keith wasn't arguing the otherside, so I guess it was more like presenting an idea.