In my ASTU class at UBC (a first year reading and writing course), we have just recently finished the journalistic comic book Safe Area Goražde,written by Joe Sacco. Following the events of the Bosnian War during the 1990’s, Sacco shows the horrid reality of the conflict through his illustrations, with narratives consisting of collected oral histories, facts, and his own observations.

Within the book, Sacco repeatedly refers to the “Real Truth” that he is trying to find. It was the idea of this “Real Truth” that kept nudging my brain as I read. Moreover, I found that Sacco’s portrayal on one’s desire to find the Truth, and their continuous avoidance of it in the process, provided a sort of reality within itself. This avoidance–which has presented itself multiple times in Safe Area–is something that I believe we as humans evidently do often. We tell people that we want to know the truth, and then when presented with an opportunity, we willingly pass by it. Just like how Sacco “avoided [a man who claimed he had the Real Truth] completely” (ii), and how some Serbians believed that the massacre of Muslims by Serbs in Srebrenica did not actually happen (195), we hide from what we claim we want.

But then again, can the Truth ever be wholly defined? Although there might be pieces of evidence–photographs, eye witness reports, video records, etc.–human nature still has a great tendency to only believe what we want to. And even then, does the Real Truth only consist of concrete fact? Can biases and opinions also contribute to the Truth? Everyone has their own perspectives on what the Truth really is. Whether it be in religion, politics, or even personal opinions, everyone believes in some way or another that they are “right”. So, in essence, who really believes in the right Truth?

Safe Area has opened my eyes further than I thought they were, to the truth of the Real Truth. It is this kind of questioning and the yearning for what is “correct” that–more often than naught–divides people and puts them against each other. Sacco provides us with an illustration (through an event often left in the silence) on how our perceptions of individual differences can cause us to categorize those individuals into part of the “foreign, dangerous other”.

But in the mix of all these conflicting Truths, is the Truth of humanity. We all evidently have opinions. We think, we decide, we act. It is this precise truth of us being unable to decide on a single truth, that makes us human. Although I know that this discussion can potentially continue for hours, days and months, in the end I think that it is only when we embrace this truth–both the good and the bad, and the ability of free will among us–that we can fully accept the Real Truth of humanity.