The Lie Of Not Lying

By Fatma Bujsaim (@FatmaBujsaim)

Hash-tags are on the list of what I enjoy on twitter; random ones come out every day and people write the funniest things. If you are not familiar with twitter, a hash-tag is followed by a phrase or a word and if you search for a certain hash-tag you will find everyone’s tweets whether or not you follow them (example: #fail, #WhenIWasAKid, #LOL).

One of my favorite hash-tags is #CommonLies, the tweets were hilarious; most of them were true, if not all. Here are some of the ones that grabbed my attention: “#CommonLies I have read all terms and conditions” “#CommonLies I will call you back” “#CommonLies my battery died”. But the one that really got to me was “#CommonLies I never lie”.

At some point, we have all said to someone that we never lie and that is truly the biggest lie we can ever tell. We have all lied in one-way or another and some of us are better liars than others. We sometimes have to lie to get out of something or somewhere. For example, being stuck at a social gathering and not having a good excuse of why we need to leave, we make up a lie of saying someone is waiting for us or the kids are by themselves.

Lies are made up for many reasons. Some lie to impress others, some lie to get themselves out of trouble, while some lie just to see who will care enough to figure out the truth. A very common lie we use to get out of trouble is “I got stuck in traffic” when the truth is we overslept.

Shamma Yousif, a Zayed University student, admits that she “sometimes lies but they are white lies.” So is there such a thing as a white lie? We sometimes tend to lie to protect loved ones from getting hurt or lie to teach a child a lesson. For example, telling a child that we used to do a certain thing/habit when we were the same age, even though we did not, just so the child will do the same. Sometimes we lie to elders and hide the painful truth to avoid upsetting them.

A lie is defined as not stating the truth. So whether it is white or black, it remains a lie because we are not saying the truth. Whether we meant to deceive others or not, we are still hiding the truth from them.

To a lot of people, lying is the easy way out; whether they were facing a problem or were in trouble. But lies pile up and the problems increase; we eventually lose track of our own lies. One of the perks of telling the truth is we do not have to remember anything. So let us stop lying when we say “I never lie”.

Sail eMagazine’s 19^th Issue – October 2011
Here We Start – Art of Living 101 – Community Talk – Just Another Undergrad
Scenes from Life – Syndication – The First Years Last Forever
The Mind’s Eye – Too Blunt for Words – Words, Observations, and Ramblings