Liar, liar, pants on fire!

How many of us said those words when we were little? I doubt there are many people who haven't. I mean, didn't we all know someone who told a whopper lie? "So what! I have a DINOSAUR for a pet!" Yeah, right. Those are the kinds of things we expect from little kids. My 8 year old nephew used to be a champ at "stretching" the truth. If one of the other kids had a Game Boy, he had five. He has finally learned that he doesn't always HAVE to be the best or have the most in order for people to like him or to want to be around him.

Children sometimes resort to telling lies as a means of self-preservation. I did this once. Dad had just washed his recruiter car. For some reason that I still don't know, I threw sand on it. When he asked me who did it, I said I didn't know. I knew I'd be in trouble if I told the truth. Well, turns out lying got me in more trouble than throwing the sand on the car. It was summer, and I had on shorts. He striped my legs GOOD and put me in the house for the rest of the afternoon. Years later, as a sophomore in high school another girl and I were with a couple of guys who decided to roll the school yard. I was late getting home, so we concocted an alibi--we'd gone to Pizza Hut and it took longer than we thought. Mom bought it. And all was good until one of my friends asked her what she thought about Perry and Don having to pick up paper during break because they'd rolled the school yard. GROUNDED. Those aren't the only times I lied to my parents, but I guess those are the ones that stuck with me because they are the ones that got me in the biggest trouble.

I can honestly say that I don't ever intentionally lie now. Yes, I've lied to John--about his surprise birthday party for this 50th birthday. I used to lie to Katy and Jessi when they'd ask for specific gifts for their birthdays or Christmas--"Honey, I'm sorry, but we just can't afford that this year" or "Oh, Sweetie. I wish we'd known. We've already bought you something else" knowing all along the gifts they really wanted had already been bought. Those are fun lies because of the joy the person gets when it's all revealed. But I'm not going to lie just for the sake of lying. I am who I am, and I like who I am. I have family and friends who love me and accept me, faults and all. I don't tell them things that are obviously untrue, because that isn't going to make them love me or accept me anymore than they do now. As far as lying to people I don't know, such as people who may be reading this blog, why should I go to the effort to lie to someone who doesn't even know who I am? What does THAT accomplish?

As an adult, it is so easy for me to overlook the lies of children because until they are taught, they don't know any better, but I cannot understand why adults consciously lie when that lie isn't going to do anything to benefit them. Why tell others something when you, and often they, KNOW it is untrue? What's the point? What does it accomplish? All it's going to do is come back and bite you in the butt.