The Truth About Lying

Be it a stereotype or a reality, those who lie are always looked down at and those who do not are hailed high. This is how society is. Well, there can different viewpoint to look at this situation. Truth and lies are two sides of the same coin. Truth wouldn’t have been so dignified had lie not existed.

Also lies are not always as bad as we think them to be. They can be means of self -defence. They can be sources of great profits. They can save someone. No matter how horrible it is, lying is an art that only few can master. Does lying not make our life more interesting? Ever encountered a toddler who shows full evidence of smudged chocolate all around his mouth, but still tries to make stories, which everyone rejoices at! It gives wings to imagination. The child enters into a hypothetical world where things happen exactly the way he wants them to be. Accept it or not, white lying requires a lot of skills.

A fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of great sense to know how to tell a lie.

-Samuel Butler

The other side of lying can be a sarcastic comment, although we never even categorize it as such. They may be essentially called as open ended lies.

That doesn’t mean that I support lying or liars. When looked upon the light side of the matter, things do appear amusing,but yes, there’s other side of the story. One should speak the truth as far as one can, because that will earn you real respect in society, because sooner or later, the truth does get revealed. That will establish trust in relationships. The old adage of a boy who lied everytime about a bear being there, and when the bear actually came, no one came to his rescue and the bear ate him up. You are particularly in a danger zone if you enjoyed or were relieved when you lied for the first time. Psychologically, you’ll tend to repeat those things which bring you pleasure or satisfaction without any real efforts. But look at it squarely, does the satisfaction of getting saved by telling a simple lie match the satisfaction that telling the truth brings to you?

Sometimes, lying consistently leads to many mental disorders as well.

That brings me to yet another side of story. Each one of us should actually posses the strength to hear the truth. It happens sometimes, that the person doesn’t want to lie, but is so scared of one’s reaction that tempts them to not speak the truth. A troubled teen lying to his/her parents is a good example. As such the parents should try to make the child comfortable and give him/her enough space, so that he/she doesn’t have to lie. That’s also where the so called generation gap comes into play. As humans, one has to know that mistakes are only made by humans and not god.

Now the most interesting part of this blog post. I bring to you the types of liars. Yeah, they do exist!

1. Notorious liar: One who has developed a reputation for falsehood.
2. Consummate liar: Practically skillful liar.
3. Incorrigible liar: The liar who cannot be reformed.
4. Inveterate liar: The liar who has become habituated to his vices.
5. Congenital liar: The liar who started to lie from the moment of his birth. (Not quite literally)
6. Chronic liar: One who always lies.
7. Pathological liar: One who cannot distinguish fact from fancy.
8. Unconscionable liar: One who suffers no pangs of conscience.
9. Glib liar: One who is suspiciously smooth and fluent in lying.
10. Egregious liar: One who tells vicious lies.