Liar, liar, liar, pants on fire!
The saying is only an expression. Thank goodness!
The world would become ashes if a fire started every time someone lied! Who know how many people will tell a lie in the next second, minute or hour?
If our noses grew like Pinocchio’s when we told a lie, they would be longer than elephant’s trunks.
We don’t have to worry about growing noses or setting our pants ablaze. Usually, telling a lie has no immediate or overt consequences, as portrayed in Pinocchio’s stories and age-old sayings.
Also, crossing one’s fingers won’t weaken a lie, purify one’s lips, or make the liar innocent of any wrongdoings, i.e., breaking God’s commandment.
People lie all the time in the case of fear, personal gain, and other selfish reasons and justifications.
Recently, I thought about writing a story about one of my big WHOPPERs or trying to pull the wool over my parents’ eyes. I ran into an unexpected conundrum. Nothing was in the memory bank; the archive was empty.
I don’t remember any lies I told my parents as a child.
Not remembering a single lie is a big conundrum! I may have a bad case of selective amnesia.
Absolutely, I told fibs like most kids. Kids are naturally naughty, right? I was no exception and, indeed, not an earthly angel.
Surely, I broke a plate or cup, took something, and denied it. The fear of punishment naturally leads to deny, deny, deny.
Lying is an acrobatic landing most kids and adults can stick.
Last Christmas, my daughter-in-law asked my granddaughter if she had opened her father’s Christmas gift, his favorite cookies, which had been stashed away.
“No, she replied. I didn’t…
It was futile to prolong the interrogation. There would be no admission of guilt. The little cookie snatcher had no alibi, but there was no eye witness.
Her nose didn’t grow, and her pants were cool against her skin. Yes, she stuck the landing!
We have all lied about one thing or another at one time or another for one reason or another.
Is there such a thing as lying by omission?
For instance, is letting your parent believe something you know is false lying? Maybe you heard your mom tell her friend that you never made an F in high school. Of course, you tore up the paper and never told her. What moms don’t know won’t hurt them and will help us, right?
Is intentionally leaving out information lying?
A parent may ask what you and a friend did at the sleepover. What if you both recount everything except the one thing that was a no-no?
The reasons people lie don’t drastically change from childhood to adulthood.
Deny, deny, deny isn’t hard to stick at any age.
Children and adults lie for various reasons, including fear of punishment, personal gain, disappointment from others, and shame or embarrassment.
In the last couple of decades, the generation of lies in the form of misinformation, disinformation, and alternative facts continues to be a challenge to overcome in our society.
What about disinformation or falsehoods intended to mislead, misinformation, or inaccurate information used to deceive? These information streams are no more than lies or falsehoods generated to influence many people for personal or political gain.
Dorothy Allison said, “Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies.”
Only the truth will make us whole and set us free.
Be well.