UNITED STATES—We all do it. Some of us more than others, but who hasn’t told a lie, I know I have. Perhaps a better question is why do we lie to begin with? Its simple we want to divert the truth. Hence, the key word divert. When we lie, for most of us, we want to prevent the truth from coming out. The truth in some situations can be a catastrophe. Just watch a soap opera and you’ll understand exactly what I mean. Those characters tell lies like it’s a game; whoever tells the most lies will win a grand prize.
What effect does lying have on our mental state of mine? Does it place us in a positive state of mind or does it place us in a negative state of mind? For some people, it’s an adrenaline rush to keep people in a ruse where they believe what is being told to them. Think of “Pretty Little Liars,” if you tell a good lie people will easily be sold on what you’re saying and it creates a domino effect. It starts a rumor; that rumor spreads around town like a plague, before you know it everyone is talking about you are something that you said about someone else.
Something odd happened in the recent weeks at my day job as an employee got hold of some information and began telling everyone in the world about it. Why am I concerned it involved me? It became so massive I had people coming up to me each day asking about “Is it true that you’re leaving the company?” Well, yes it is, but who told you I was moving? It was partially truth to the statement, but there was also a bit of a lie injected in there as well.
Where in the world did everyone suspect that I was moving? I don’t know and it bugs me greatly because I want to find the person who started this massive rumor. I have my theories, but I’m not 100% certain, but I’ve learned a valuable lesson, don’t’ talk to anyone. I mean it. There are people that you can trust, but you have to know in your gut that these are people who will go to the lengths of the Earth to keep confidential what you’ve told them. Perhaps a family member, a very close friend, but not people who know you.
The bad thing about a good lie is that you have to come up with another good lie to protect the original lie that you told. It never ends with 1 lie, its just keeps on going, but be warned about the lies that you tell because some lies can get you into major trouble and before you know it you’ve entangled a party of people who may become casualties of your ruse. Its one thing to tell a lie to protect someone from being exposed to something extremely harmful, it’s another thing to tell a lie that destroys a person’s life.
Trust me it does happen and the attempt to pick up the pieces from the fallout is chaotic. You become a mess and so does the people involved. Stay away from lies, unless the lie is told for good purpose, but when was the last time you actually told a lie to protect someone, not to get out of a situation?
By Trevor Roberts
