A Thread of Truth

Years ago, a good old Navy Chief taught me an excuse is a thin layer of reason wrapped around a lie.  It really stuck with me as it applied to telling the whole truth and doing your best work.  And this was before the Navy adopted the "Honor - Courage - Commitment" core value.
Some recent activity on Facebook seemed very similar to that same idea.  Two contacts from my Facebook community recently posted items on Facebook that others called out as being false stories.  In both cases, the story had that thread of truth but the totality was false.  One was the claim that Five Guys Burgers and Fries did not serve police officers.  The truth of the story was that a few employees at one franchise did refuse to serve the officers, but when contacted, the franchise owner closed the store, fire a couple employees and retrained all the rest.
The other story was that Weis supermarket employees were forbidden to wear or display the American flag at work as it was too controversial.  This was supposedly in response to the protests over the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis. They said the display of political logos, slogans, and symbols on clothing — including employees’ protective face masks worn during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic — was even a fireable offense.  In reality, the company has had a uniform policy for associates that has not changed in 50 years:  Associates cannot wear logoed, messaged or symbolic items while working.
Lesson learned - if a story or post on Facebook makes you angry, it is very likely fake news with that small thread of truth.  So check your sources.