What is Truth?

   "What is truth?"

   Diana sat in philosophy class, simultaneously bored and annoyed. She already had her own perspectives on the meaning and purpose of life; she believed that she did not need her head filled with the circular truths of common culture.
   Once again, her teacher asked the question.
   "What is truth?"
   The students still seemed confused. It was only the third day of school, and Mr. Tracy was already delving into topics that befuddled the average college student.  After a few moments of silence, a scrawny young boy raised his hand.
   "Yes, Mister Allen?" Mr. Tracy asked.
   The boy slowly spoke, stuttering occasionally. "Truth is...is... well... it's what's we know that's... y'know... true."
   The rest of the class giggled a bit at his feeble attempt at making a point.
   Mr. Tracy simply rolled his eyes and turned back to the rest of the class. "Anyone else?"
An older boy, about three seats ahead of Diana, raised his hand.
   Tracy enthusiastically responded: "Yes, Mister..."—he quickly looked at the class roster—"...Kent?"
"Yes, sir," Clark replied. He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, then spoke. "Truth is what's real. Truth is everything that's good. It's light; it's hope; it's justice. It's what we believe in when we don't have anything else."
   The rest of the class sat in their seats, slightly stunned. Although Clark had spoken somewhat abstractly, his voice carried a resounding authority. It was mesmerizing and inspiring. Diana almost jumped from her seat. Did he just say what I think he said?!
   Their teacher was not quite so profoundly affected. "But how can we know what truth is? After all, different people have different beliefs about what's true."
   Clark was ready with another reply. "That doesn't change the fact that truth has to exist, whether or not we can see it."
   The other students were surprised. No one had ever actually argued with Mr. Tracy before; most everyone just sat through his lectures and tried not to fall asleep.
   Tracy continued the verbal spar: "But how do you know that? How do you know that your perception doesn't create truth for itself?"
   Lois was also sitting in this class, and couldn't hold her reporter's passion back any longer. "So what are we supposed to do? Just lie down and decide that we can't know anything anyway?"
   Mr. Tracy was gentle and optimistic in his reply. "No, you can take comfort in the fact that you create truth for yourself.  You can change your world to mean whatever you want it to."
   Diana couldn't help but be disgusted with the genuine smile that spread across Tracy's face.  "He actually believes this crap?!?" she thought to herself.
   She finally spoke up. "So if someone decides that murder is a good thing, then that makes it okay?"
   Tracy seemed a bit taken aback at her accusation. "Well, no... I mean, obviously there have to be limits in place..."
   Lois jumped in. "You just said that absolute truth couldn't exist.  So who decides what those limits are?"
   Tracy began to stutter an answer: "Well, we—"
   The bell rang.
   As the students stood up and began to leave, Clark, Lois, and Diana looked at each other with a mutual grin of satisfaction.
   Clark was simply happy because he'd stood his ground and defended his beliefs.
   Diana was happy because she'd found, for the first time in her life, other people who believed as she did: that truth was paramount; that its singular ideal was of utmost importance.  Here she had found two people in the world who were not simple drones of society; who understood what it meant to actually fight for the ideals of Truth and Justice.  For the first time since she'd come to this country, she was not alone.
   Lois was just happy to shove the faculty's crap in their own faces.