Through the Woods: An essay about an essay

I am currently digesting assigned readings for my creative non-fiction class. Out of the pile (but I've honestly only read four), an essay by American reporter Leslie Rubinkowski made me understand a little more about issues which concern truth and lies, not just in writing, but in our daily lives. The title of the piece is In the Woods, below is a brief summary and commentary about the essay. 

Summary

Leslie Rubinkowski recounted his experience as an adolescent who dealt with a grandfather who constantly told strange stories. Growing up, he always knew they were lies. He began by narrating one of his grandfather’s stories about a naked woman he saw one evening in the woods. Another unbelievable story, also set in the woods, was about some weird animal he found; it had quills like a porcupine that seemed to look more like feathers, and a duck bill. No, his grandfather didn’t think it was a platypus. He told lies with great gusto.

Rubinkowski hated it when his grandfather lied, but for some reason, he was still drawn to ask what happened next. He wrote, “That is where it all starts, doesn’t it? Then what: that lovely painful pull of the thing you need to know, whether you need to or not.” Later on, Rubinkowski became a reporter. His inquisitive nature and penchant for getting into the bottom of things definitely worked to his career’s advantage.

In one of Rubinkowski’s assignments, a woman lied to him about being cast in a hillbilly variety show back in the ‘70s. This woman even suggested she had “known” Elvis Presley, that she was in love with him. He knew the lady was lying but he did his research anyway. The lady believed so much in her dream that she came off as sincere. Although Rubinkowski knew she was a fake, deep down he still wanted to believe in her story. He realized that there are lies that try to hide, and there are those that reveal something more significant about loss and hope. He concluded that part of the essay by saying, “So maybe what I'm looking for aren't lies at all. Maybe what I'm looking for—hoping for—is a happier truth."

The final part of his essay narrated one of his grandfather’s stories about the strange animal. He saw it walking toward him from the woods. Here, he began to see the world through his grandfather's imagination. That morning, the writer was born.

Commentary

The narrative presented Rubinkowski as an adolescent who was keen on listening to the story itself, regardless of whether it was fact or fiction. At first he seemed to reason that he was just fond of good stories, which was why he didn’t mind listening to lies. While writing the essay, I believe he was trying to understand why people went through all the trouble just to tell lies, and why he actually took the time of day to even listen to them.

In an effort to understand his grandfather, he researched the kind of life he lived. From what I gather, he believes his grandfather made-up narratives that represented his ideal self. Maybe he did so to establish a connection with his grandson. The experience opened his mind to great possibilities, helping him cope with a melancholic childhood. And, I guess it worked because Rubinkowski said he thinks he did so out of love. He also acknowledged that his grandfather was a great influence in the kind of writer he has become.

In the middle of the essay, he confessed that, as a writer, writers lie all the time even when they deal with facts. Because we derive a lot of information from memory, at some point it’s likely to be inaccurate. Memories can be factual but it’s not fleshed out—it’s just imagined. I can identify with this point because more often than not, memories aren’t very reliable especially when we try to recall something so distant. They usually require proof. Personally, when I try to remember specific details from my past, I sometimes happen to confuse myself with what really happened and what I dreamed could have happened. This is why it’s so important to talk to other people and confirm events if we really want something accurate. But, what is the point? Is it simply to recover the past and arrive at some truth? I have to say the process of remembering and sorting fact from the imagined is just as important because at the end of it all, we have to make sense of it.

I appreciate how the writer was able to arrive at the conclusion that there is some significant meaning behind the kind of lies people create. He gave perspective to an essential aspect of the human condition: the kind of hopes and dreams people live with. I believe the final part of the essay described what it means to finally have a shift of perspective and to dive beyond the parameters of reality to experience life as it should be lived.

I guess it’s true that we might just find that truth we’re looking for if we hang around long enough to see it. But then, if we don’t, maybe we can move on and create new truths by living life as earnestly as we can.