Hang Them on a Telephone Wire

In this day and age, it’s still unethical to lie, right?

If you’re Judeo/Christian, you believe in the 10 commandments, which mean you don’t bear false witness, right?

If you’re Muslim and believe in the Qur’an, you believe that liars will be punished in the judgment, right?

It’s still pretty much a universally-accepted moral that it’s bad to lie, right?

THEN WHY AM I SURROUNDED BY SO MUCH DISHONESTY IN MY LIFE?!

I feel like I’m living in a soap opera, where everybody’s lives are shaped by the lies they tell and the lack of consequences for doing so.

I’m fed up with it - especially in my local religious culture, where so many people pride themselves on being so honest and morally upright. I’m not angry at my church, but I’m sick of the hypocrisy with some of its members when it comes to being honest. It seems as though telling half-truths completely pass as honesty now. It seems like several people I know believe that it’s okay to lie through their teeth as long as it covers their butts if they’ve been caught doing/saying something bad.

And I’ve had it.

I was having a conversation with someone today, and the topic of dishonesty came up. There are a couple of people I’ve been having to deal with over the last few years who have proven to be pathological liars. I started distancing myself from them, and one told a mutual acquaintance that he/she was shocked that I wasn’t such a close friend anymore because we had sat down and worked things out. This never happened, and it became the final lie to which I’ll subject myself with said person. I explained that while I can forgive someone for lying, I only have 4 cheeks to turn, and I’m not putting myself into a situation where I can be lied to again.

I’ve been lied to by so many people recently that I’m starting to just assume that most people are lying to me at any given time.

One of my favorite things that has been happening within the last year is people telling my wife one thing and me another. I don’t know what kind of messed up relationships others have with their significant other, but we happen to share everything. Do people really think that if they lie to one/both of us, we won’t compare stories? It has happened with other family members recently, too. FYI – if your family relationships are functional, then they they probably have open lines of communication. Don’t test this in a negative way.

I hate it. I feel like I’m regressing to when I was a skeptical, untrusting teenager. Throughout my 20s, I’ve been gaining a better view of the world. I’ve been embracing all kinds of people, I’ve been trying to get lots of different life experiences, I’ve been looking at the world through rose-colored glasses.

I’m done.

Here’s the deal: if you lie around me, I’m going to call you on it. Especially if it involves me or someone I care about. If you try to frame me for being dishonest, I won’t just ignore it. I’ll shout it from the rooftops.

Honesty is the best ONLY policy.