“Once a great man said that we all lie one way or another but then we all pay one day or another”
This being the great debates I would like to set forth a statement I don’t believe in lies.
I believe we do lie one day or another but I also believe that on a personal level one person to another that you never lie to anyone except to yourself, you may think you are lying for someone to shelter someone’s feelings but in the end you are lying to your self.
I met a law enforcement guy whose motto was, “Deny everything. Demand proof. Admit nothing.” Subsequently heard he was divorced twice and had trouble with girlfriends. Hmmm.
Won’t lie about that, the only way not having a trouble with girlfriends is not having them but then that usually ends up being a trouble with in it self….
So I say it’s a trouble worth having and don’t bother lying to them because that is a heap of trouble…… Unless that is you like it… the trouble that is.
I never lie in my personal relationships. That doesn’t mean that I speak aloud every thought that pops into my head, of course, but I never say things that are not true to people I care about. Ever. I can’t think of lies I tell to anyone I have a personal, as opposed to professional relationship with.
When I worked for other people, different story. I lied my ass off, mostly to avoid going to work.
But really, Twain (I think it was Twain) had it right: If you never lie, you never have to remember anything.
I think I wish you had posted in the Cafe Society forum, so we could rip that “poem” the new chute it so richly deserves.
Pal, I’m sure you have a deep meaningful and very poignant point about the nature of untruth. Unfortunately, I can’t make heads or tails of it. Care to try again in plain old non-allegorical English?
Yes I do, I try my best not to since I consider lies to be an act of cowardice, but even that contradicts to my own conscience on moments, and as I dislike the word “but” I still say it to the defense of my lies that when I do find myself in a lie I try to gather the courage to face it by admitting to it to those whom I have lied to.
andros:
I am afraid I am not familiar with the Cafe Society forum, but my thought is a simple one, ask yourself why you lie when you do it and do you ever really lie for the good of another, is there not always a part of you that you are covering with your lie etc.
On my love of poetry I will not make any excuses, poetry is a form where anyone is free to like or dislike, obviously you dislike this one and it is not for me to criticize.
Thank you and I hope I have made my point clearer.
I’ve always held with Mark Twain that lying is a universal and neccesary task, and that the thing to do is to lie well and for others’ benefit.
So, repeat after me.
“Hello, how are you?”
“Oh, I’m fine”
“I’m so sorry to hear about your loss.”
“Well, I must be going. Nice ssing you. I hope we’ll meet again soon.”
Lying isn’t self deception…part of what makes a lie a lie is that you know it’s a lie, and say it anyway. So, I’d disagree with you and say that no lie is self-deception. Some lies are badly thought out. Some lies are obvious, but all are deliberate.
I sincerely hope that you don’t have to lie about sympathizing with someone’s loss, that is what I read from those lines, correct me if I’m misunderstanding you.
I’m not a very religious person but what most religions try to teach you on one level or another is honesty, and through most communication honesty is something that people at least pretend to value.
Besides I think that one of the worst things you can find out about your friends or acquaintances is that they are lying to you, even if they thought it was for your own best interest.
