On Honesty and Lying
There are a lot of people who seem to operate based on the idea that the people around them are idiots or can be talked out of believing their own instincts and senses. Granted, too many people are more inclined to believe what other people tell them instead of listening to their own heads (please, let’s not include hearts); but blatantly denying something doesn’t turn back time. A statement doesn’t become true just because you insist on standing by it. And you can’t blot something out of existence by ‘forgetting’ that it ever happened.
Let’s face it; we don’t live our entire lives in kindergarten. That strategy might have worked when everyone still carried around Power Rangers lunch boxes but it doesn’t work too well after you’ve hit your 20s. It doesn’t even work all that well during your teens. It just doesn’t work. Stop doing it.
Everyone has been in a situation that they’d really rather forget or don’t want to face. We’ve all made fools of ourselves at one time or another and we’ve all made mistakes. We’ve all been in complicated situations where anything we do will hurt someone’s feelings. But lying only makes it worse. When you lie to a person, you’re treating the person less than they deserve. If you’ve done something wrong, a simple apology can work wonders. If you’re afraid of hurting someone, give their reasoning skills some credit instead of lying to make them feel better. If they’re adults, they’ll appreciate the honesty despite the hurt and you’ll at least get to keep their trust. If they don’t act like adults, maybe treating them with the maturity that they should have themselves will knock some sense into them.
Bottom line is, don’t lie. Most of the time, people know when they’re being lied to. Most of the time, they won’t confront or complain about it. They’ll nod, accept your words, and be graceful about the whole thing. But they will also think twice before believing anything you say for a very long time. Let’s hope it won’t be ‘til forever.
