January 13, 2015

Everybody Does It

Truth is Never Good Fiction

Don't you just love it when Dr. House says, "Everybody lies" ?


I mean, how true is that?

He's referring to patients, of course. But how often in our lives do we find someone who lies to us.

It might be as simple as saying, "Why didn't you shovel the snow?" and being told, "I did. It was earlier in the day before it snowed more." Come on, you and I both know that's a lie. But, as Dr. House says, "Everybody lies." In my world, kids lie, colleague lie, parents lie — it's damn near an epidemic. It's more lie than simple deceit.

We have to determine which lies are worth getting upset about and which ones to just ignore.

The psychology of the lie

I've always believed that if you tell a lie, you have to tell another lie to back that lie up and pretty soon, you've lied so much that you can no longer tell the truth from fiction. I know liars. I work with liars. I know one person who seldom tells the truth but everyone believes the lies because THE TRUTH IS NEVER TOLD. Some people get away with lying — they're professional liars. It doesn't bother them to tell an untruth. Or to stretch the truth. Or to completely ignore the truth. You know what I mean. You know who I mean.

I guess people think politicians lie a lot. Do they? Or do they give us an exaggerated version of what the truth may be? I don't really know. I think that's called politics (or something). But when someone starts to believe his lies are truth, we have a problem.

Again, in our lives we have to determine which lies to get upset about. Are little white lies from your kids worth getting too concerned about? Do they lead to frequent big lies? It's hard to say. Every lie has its time, I guess.

Dr. House Gets It Right

But I enjoy it when Dr. House says, "Everybody lies." He is adamant about it, too, and you would think his staff would catch on that everybody does it. But they never seem to be on the same page and in an unbelieving state … Maybe they think he's lying to them.

No comments: