Lies

When I was a child, I was taught to believe in fairies, ghosts, father christmas and God. I guess there was time when I did believe in all of those things and i understand the reasons why parents propagate those lies. I think i even participated myself with one exception. Lies are so often justified that all lies today seem justifiable and that makes me very uncomfortable. I like to think that I am a truthful person and rarely will I lie to anyone, but it seems that the normal way to behave in the 21st century is to lie as long as you can get away with it. I am not talking about telling someone that they look nice in order to make them feel good about themselves, though I am guilty of that quite frequently, I am talking about the big lies that many people today see as perfectly ok. Insurance companies tell us that we should never admit to guilt in the case of an accident, in turn so many people lie about insurance claims, and so it goes on. Politicians lie all the time, but then it is called bending the truth.

As an ex teacher, I am so familiar with kids who you see committing an offence, blatantly denying that they did it, or that they were even there, knowing that without any proof their word against mine negated any guilt. Sadly, a long exposure to lies makes for cynicism, and so these days i take most things with a large pinch of salt even though most people that i know are honest and truthful. There are still some who like to say things that you want to hear, and although done for the best reasons, they are lies.

I was also brought up to believe that telling the truth was a good thing, and I still believe that to be the case. Surely a measure of society lies in the ability of its people to recognise the value of the truth, and that it is nothing to do with religion.