Truth becoming more elusive

Where, oh where, in this crazy universe is truth?

Why is it when a doctor, or a scientist, or someone we trust tells us something that sounds reasonable we believe it and then — poof — we find it isn't true?

For the past two years I have faithfully swallowed a very expensive pill once a month, believing what Sally Field says in the commercial for Boniva.

I took that little pill and followed the directions — I didn't lie down or eat for an hour. I could almost feel my osteoporitic bones getting stronger.

Then I read an article about a report that said bisphosphonates, if taken for more than five years, have been linked to hip breaks.

It was the biggest disillusionment for me since I learned there was no Easter Bunny.

That's the trouble with thinking something is too good to be true — because it usually is. There is always an upside, a downside and a chance to take — there is no absolutes, which when it comes right down to it is what we want.

Take, for instance, global warming. On the very same page as the report on bisphosphonates was an article suggesting a possibility of a "climategate."

Apparently some e-mails were hacked and then published on the Internet. The e-mails show some of the top climate scientists questioning the work of other researchers that has created doubt in the public sector.

For a world going green, now there is doubt.

Absolutes are comforting, but sometimes they're more comforting to some rather than others.

My husband, Grit, tells of three engineering students he sat by during his first year of law school.

Their studies in physical science gave them an answer, an end; their work could be tied up and finished.

With the law, nothing is ever finished, and often there is not a right or wrong answer, just a good argument.

The person with the best and most convincing argument wins. Those three students were so frustrated by this they dropped out of law and found another field of study.

If you are old enough, you will remember the plastic sack filled with white margarine. In order to make it appeal to the public, the manufacturer also included a pellet of yellow food coloring. As a kid, one of my chores was to knead that package until the ball of color burst and the whole thing looked like butter.

Of course everyone started using white margarine because, first of all, it was available and butter wasn't.