Lies are a part of our daily life. We tell them without thinking about it, without remorse or guilt. And for those of you who think you aren’t liars, “When asked the question ‘are you a liar?’ nearly 97% of people answer ‘no’. When the remaining 3% (self-confessed liars) are subjected to questions calibrating their real, rather than perceived honesty, they turn out to be, on average, 28 times more honest than the people who claimed they never lied.”* The only way to be truly honest is to admit you’re a liar. Now, it’s not a bad thing, per se. It’s just a fact of life. We lie. We bold face lie, little white lie, lie of omission, and a myriad of other definitions for the same basic concept of un-truth. We lie to each other, our families, friends, employers and total strangers, and to ourselves—which is perhaps the most dangerous of all. Because we lie to ourselves, it can be difficult to gauge whether we’re actually telling the truth. Which is why going into this I just want to state, I truthfully can’t say whether or not I was honest. I can’t say with 100% certainty I fulfilled this assignment. All I can say is, I tried to the very best of my ability not to intentionally lie, mislead, or otherwise be dishonest or untruthful.
I regard myself as a very honest person. Which isn’t to say I’m a ‘bad liar,’ I lie with great ease and subtlety, but I’m generally pretty open and honest about it. I also do, honestly try not to lie for the soul purpose of hurting another individual, and recognize I am a terrible hypocrite for despising when others (try to) lie to me. One of my most common lies is the simple “You’re fine.” I say it as reflex, without even considering for a moment the full meaning of my words. “Oh, you’re fine. I didn’t mind coming in to work when you didn’t really need me while I was very, very ill,” “oh, you’re fine. I didn’t actually need to set down this heavy tray. Please, go ahead and take all the time you need to jump in front of me with your one salad bowl and tongs,” or “oh, you’re fine. I didn’t mind waiting out in the cold for an extra half hour while you were picking up other customers, even though I booked this cab for a specific time.” What I’m really saying when I lie “You’re fine,” is “I’m worth less.” “I’m worth less than you,” “I deserve to be ignored and treated poorly,” “I don’t deserve to actually take up space.” This is a learned response, a lie I tell myself and the world, and one I very desperately need to break.
I’ll have to stop here, or risk running over my word limit. I could honestly write pages on the subject. Just know, I have learned from this reflection, and hope to grow in response.
*Taken from Answers.com (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_some_statistics_on_lying)
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