Here’s an interesting fact: the state of Hawaii continues to get so many requests for verification of President Barack Obama’s birth, the state legislature has approved a measure exempting it from the public records law. It made me realize that despite the proof, and long after the legacy of our 44^th president will have passed into the history books, this birther myth will continue to flourish.

Perceived reality is the concept that what is real is simply what each of us perceive it to be. And sadly, our perceptions of reality are largely influenced by our environment.

As an example, in his new book, George W. Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, claims that the former president never would have ordered the invasion of Iraq had he known that the intelligence on the supposed weapons of mass destruction was wrong. And yet, Bush and seven of his administration’s top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made at least 935 false statements in the two years following Sept. 11 about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. As a result, by the time we invaded, the perceived reality of the majority of Americans was that the rogue country possessed WMD’s. We were unwilling to entertain the idea that it was possibly not true.

The truly unfortunate thing about perceived reality is that until we are willing to consider alternative concepts – to un-learn our perceived realities – we cannot open our minds to the truth. And when you think about all the misinformation that we’re bombarded with daily, the need has never been greater.

I think those of us laboring in higher education have a sacred mission before us: not only do we need to keep our fountains of information and truth continually flowing, but we also need to help our students learn to question, explore, discern, and open their minds to alternative thoughts. Our future depends on it.

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