Liar, Liar Pants on Fire

Nowadays a lot of things my grandmother used to say has been making a lot of sense. What I did not understand back then in the 70´s, but now in 2016, or better at 49 almost 50, it is all starting to make sense.

For instance she used to say things like “A small lie will betray itself in the long run”, “Once you have told a lie, you will need a good memory”, “A lie never lives to be old”; and of course she would always remind me of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”. (It is a good fable if you haven´t read it. I know for a fact that there are videos available on-line which tell the tale).

Perhaps you disagree with me on the fact that there are some situations in which telling a white lie is much better.  For example, some one sends you a text message and you say that you didn´t get it. Eventually the person got it but didn´t bother to read it or answer it. Therefore, saying you didn´t get it is much easier than just saying that you didn´t feel like answering it.

Another example is when someone invites you out and you say that you can´t make it because you already have something else scheduled,  but in reality you just don´t want to go. In the long run, the person will just get tired of asking you out. Wouldn´t it just save time and all the energy if you had told the truth right off the bat?

The truth can hurt. But finding out that someone lied to you can cause even more hurt. For instance, you had made plans to meet a friend at a pub and he never shows up, nor does he send a message stating that he couldn´t make it. Then when you meet up with him again he says one of his relatives passed away. You feel horrible because you were mad at him because he left you standing and then you find out he had lost a loved one. However, a couple of years go by and you see a picture of him and the deceased relative on a social media page, and the relative is alive and kicking.  Do you confront him? Nah, you just start losing the trust you had in the person. Then you hear that children´s saying in your head “Liar, liar pants on fire.”

There are some lies that you catch quite quickly and then there are others that take years for you to find out. It does not matter, the truth always prevails. This is something that I have learned throughout the years.

As Abraham Lincoln once said : “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”

                Telling the truth is hard and may hurt, but at least you will sleep better and do not need to worry in case your memory goes bad.

Written: March 3, 2016 Todos os direitos reservados a Meire Marion

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