8.8 years
Chapter 1
Prologue
Lies, fibs, half-truths, disinformation, falsehoods, inaccuracies, deceit, deflections, deceptions.
Who hasn't covered up some unfortunate or embarrassing situation by misrepresenting the facts or simply leaving out some vital piece of information? We can kid ourselves by calling them harmless little white lies - but is it always the case?
Often, it's just more convenient or easier not to tell the whole truth or to simply make up an alternate version of facts than to have to explain the details of something we'd just rather not share.
Harmless?
Sometimes.
Not always.
Honesty and integrity are at the centre of most of our relationships. So what happens to those fragile connections when we deviate from the truth and upset the delicate balance of trust which often takes so long to build and to maintain? Can the trust always be rebuilt? Or are there casualties along the way?
Some fibs may be truly harmless - like telling a friend her butt looks fine in that pair of pants or endeavoring to hold back the details of a surprise party we're planning for a loved one. But where is that fine line? The one between truth and lie, the one between honesty and deception – the one that, if and when it's crossed, will shatter or irreparably damage that delicate balance of trust in our relationships with the ones we love.
We might be forgiven to hold back something that might hurt someone else but what about those lies that only serve to protect ourselves, our image, the way others will think of us or those deceptions that we profit from directly without a second thought as to how they might hurt someone else. We can always rationalize telling a lie – everyone can – and if you think about it long enough, you can always find a way to convince yourself that it's best this way...
...which leads to the worse kind of lies – the ones we tell ourselves.
TBC