It always amazes me when someone who should know me by now assumes that something I have related to him is a lie or some sort of fabrication. Think about it. You've spent your life being almost brutally, bluntly, painfully honest--a quality your friends and acquaintances should have recognized in you by now--let alone members of your own family--and yet, knowing you, knowing your disposition as a temperametal artist, writer--label what you have said--a lie.
My honesty has always gotten me into more hot water than any lie ever could have, were I wanting to make myself look good by avoiding the truth--which I don't.
I am many things, but one thing I am not is a liar. If I don't reply to something you have said and choose to keep my silence, do not assume that my silence is in agreement with what you have said. I may have chosen not to say anything, rather than lie to you to avoid hurting your feelings.
If I write in the journal of my life that something happened and I put it down in detail, do not assume that, because I have a great imagination as a writer of fiction, that what my journal contains is a LIE. In my journal I don't fabricate, unless I tell you that is what I am doing. If I say it happened, it happened.
The misadventures of my life have been such that I am thrown into the pot of stew with all kinds of veggies, meats, seeds, grasses, broths, bones, feathers, flakes--not to mention fruits. The Lord puts all kinds into the mix. I think He likes seeing how I am going to put my foot in my mouth again---not by any LIE--but by telling the TRUTH: Open mouth, insert foot. If one can be naiive at 72, I still am.
I am further amazed that when you have lived in the same house with someone many years and you record incidents that happened which you have witnessed.....somehow the people who are friends and acquaintances seem to know an awful lot more than you do about that person, though maybe they only saw the one in question outside the home casually one or two times a year. Never mind the fact that you knew this person long before any of them......
To some people it is highly important to be well thought of by family and friends whom they wish to impress--usually The Haves. The ones without money (The Have Nots) don't count, thus the hair comes down at home behind closed doors and everyday behaviour surfaces--usually the unseen Mr. Hyde (in moderation, of course--nothing so sinister as Murder So Foul).
In short, you're not going to see the secrets men do (or women) behind the closed doors of their own homes--but many a journal or diary has revealed not only pleasant and humorous things, but vile and ugly actions as well. And if I choose to keep a journal and record those things, and occasionally choose to share my life behind closed doors with friends and family, do not label my journals A LIE or me A LIAR because "no one but you has ever seen any such vile behavior as you claim to have seen......."
How do you think the evil men and women of this world have gotten away with horrendous acts against children, women and even men? Because they grimaced wickedly and bared the sharp fangs of a vampire? Certainly, they DID NOT.
They stepped out of their homes, locked their doors behind them, strode forth with their winning smiles and their unique winning ways and drew their victims into the snare.
I live in my life, the one that is not a lie, and sometimes horrendous things have shadowed my soul. But I can still hold up my head and say, though I have hurt many people with thoughtless and careless words and deeds--because even my soul can harbor meanness and I don't always think before I act--that I have never deliberately molested or raped a child or killed anyone (although maybe I have driven many to suicide.......) and I have definitely not paved the road along the way by or with LIES. My sins are many--too many--but I am amongst the forgiven who belong to Christ the King.
Lastly, the most amazing thing about LIES, is that people who have made LYING a habit by which they plow through life, not only end up believing their own LIES but think that because THEY LIE, EVERYONE ELSE LIES also. NOT TRUE, by a long shot.
Ending on a humorous note, a deputy Sheriff, Mike, a friend of mine, and I were discussing liars. Of course everyone knows that law enforcement agencies profile actions to determine who is lying and who is not. Having been a correctional officer, this was also catalogued in my subconscious--However, as I pointed out to Mike--NOTHING IS BLACK AND WHITE. For instance, continually darting one's eyes away from the other person is thought to be a "sign of lying". We spoke of that and I smiled. Mike is a very attractive man, and I told him, "Mike, if I were to continually stare at you while I'm trying to get a point across, I'd lose my train of thought because all I could think of was how good looking you are!" And consumate LIARS can STARE DOWN and BEGUILE the best of them!
Think twice before you declare"YOU'RE A LIAR!"
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