The truth is...........

The reason that I haven’t been posting much lately is that I have been really tired and I have been sleeping a lot. It’s not due to depression though. I think it is an allergic reaction to our cat. You see, he has been inside a lot lately after his attack. I really think there are a lot of dogs hanging around the neighborhood so we keep him inside for his protection. The reason that all these dogs are hanging around is because there seems to be several foxes living in the woods by our house. I am sure that they are there due to the increased number of birds, mice, snakes and other vermin that have taken up residence around our house. The “fox food” is here because there is still a lot of green vegetation around that would normally be brown this time of year and it is all due to global warming. So you see the reason that I haven’t been blogging much lately is due to global warming. And that’s the truth.




Yesterday I was thinking about my youth and all the things that my parents taught me. They taught me how to speak, write, swim, hunt, fish, draw, ride a bike, drive a car and many more things than I could ever mention here in this post. But there is one thing that they didn’t teach me. I learned it myself and in fact I can honestly say that I was born with the ability to do it and many of you were too. Even though I was born with the ability to do it, and did it the first time by myself, with no formal training at all, I did over the years learn to perfect this skill to the point where it is today. I am talking about the ability to lie. Now before I take all credit away from my parents, I am sure even though they didn’t teach me how to do it, they possibly pushed me into doing it the first time.



Picture this:



A small child is sitting quietly in his bedroom. (Too quiet for his own good.) The parent walks in and sees him sitting there with a crayon in hand, a box of crayons sitting beside him and a wall covered with crayon scribbles. Now what is the first thing out of that parent’s mouth? “Did you write on this wall son?" Now also imagine that the parent sounds upset, and they are so much larger than the child and the child knows this so he is left with only two options. Tell the truth and face possible consequences or lie and try to talk his way out of it. From a child’s perspective option two looks pretty good. And the beauty if lying is after the first time, it keeps getting easier.



The teenage years are difficult but they can be made easier by a telling a little white lie or two. That friend that you really don't want to hang out with can be held at bay with a fake sickness or maybe a “my father says I can’t come over” or even an “I have to watch my brother” excise. I remember my girlfriend in high school once pointed to this really attractive “it” girl and asked me if that girl was prettier than she was. What was I supposed to say? I lied. So the teenage years really are the developmental years when it comes to lying. By the time a person reaches adult hood they stand ready to blend right in with society and its acceptance of lying.



It really amazes me how accepted lying is these days. Think about it. When a person is put on the witness stand the first thing they make them do is place their hand on a Bible and swear to tell the truth. (I know there are alternatives these days but the point is the same) People have to be reminded and encouraged not to lie. This whole concept is ridiculous because the reason that people are in court in the first place is because someone is lying. Think about it. If no one lied, then there would be no reason to go to court. People would simply say: I did it or it’s my fault.



And to make matters worse and ease society’s conscience, we have come up with less offensive terms and reasons for lying. Here are a few: Omitting the truth, Fib, Partial truth, Little white lie, It’s what they wanted to hear, They never asked, I wasn’t under oath, It was for their own good etc etc. And the reason that we came up with these alternative names for lying is so that we can rank our lies in order to make some of them sound OK.



The problem though comes when we start making those little fibs acceptable. Sure they are seemingly insignificant but they tend to grow. In order to cover up that little fib, we may need to tell a little larger lie to make things work. Then the next thing we know, we have to make up bigger and bigger lies to cover the previous ones and before you know it, we are doing nothing but covering up what started out to be a little fib. If we continue to let our lies grow, sooner or later we get confused or our lies become so complex that we slip up and oops, we get caught. We are labeled “ a liar.” Have you ever told someone that a dish they prepared was good (when it wasn’t) and later had that person make it again just for you. Remember having to force that food down. MMMMMMMMM Yummy. But if you were a quick thinker you came back with, "Oh, thank you but I am not hungry right now." Then shortly after that you forgot about the dish and asked the same person of they wanted to go out and get something to eat. Oops, caught.



The truth is that to some extent we are all liars. We have all told lies at one time or another in our lives. They may have been little white lies or maybe even biggies. I try not to lie unless it means hurting someone’s feelings. I guess that makes it ok, or does it? Just something to think about. What’s your opinion on this subject?

Have a great day,
Greg