I will keep on lying…

 

Lately, on the wake of the Lance Armstrong doping scandal there has been a lot of talk about lying and cheating in the news and other Internet sources. Probably any person that has followed the rise and fall of this most famous athlete wonders how could he have lied so much, lied his way up to the very top, deny his lies for years and even sue and bully people confronting him with the truth. How could he do that? Armstrong is now in the elite group of famous liars that fell from grace such as John Edwards, Berny Madoff… or even Richard Nixon.

It is especially difficult to find some empathy for these big liars, even in the face of their apologies. It is difficult because they hold their lies for so long, they were arrogant, unlikable, made money or achieved power while telling lies, and on top they were jerks. They seem to belong to an especial category of liars.

But guess what? I lie, you lie, he lies, all of us lie… and maybe more often that one would ever think. A physiologist who analyzed the Armstrong’s lies on TV after the interview the cyclist gave to Oprah Winfrey, said that in average every human being tells about 11 lies a day! The number seemed a little bit high for me and I truly made the effort to concentrate in my lies of that day and I couldn’t immediately find one.

The website Psychology Today mentioned a study published by Human Communication Research in 2010, which found that the average human being tells 1.64 lies per day. Now, that seems a bit low for me. Just as the author of the article in Psychology Today, Gad Saad, I believe that maybe the subjects in the research were lying about the amount of lies they tell!

In any case I have tried to be more conscious of my own lies. And yes I have lied in the last few days. Not much, but I have done it, and usually in order to avoid hurting people. But a lie is a lie… isn’t it? We all know since we are little that we should not lie, our parents tell us that lying is bad, the Bible tell us it is a sin, that the truth will set us free… is that so?

I believe that truth is the way, but sometimes the truth can get you into unnecessary trouble. My nephew, for example, told me that he constantly makes a conscious effort not to lie. Nevertheless, he said, telling the truth all the time has gotten him in hot water with friends and acquaintances.

Let’s just imagine a typical scenario: A girl from work invites me to her wedding, but I don’t know any of her friends or family, I fear I am going to get bored, I hate weddings in general and on top of all my favorite show is airing that same night of the wedding. Of course I not going to go with my friend and say “you know what? I hate weddings and I really rather stay at home watching TV instead.” No! We don’t do that. We usually say something like: “I would have love to, but unfortunately it is my mom’s birthday and we have a party planned for her…”

And if I go to the wedding I will tell my friend that I had a great time instead of “this is one of the most boring events I have ever attended.” Right? The lie is the right thing to say in this case.

So, I hope my friends lie if I invite them to a boring affair, it would hurt my feelings if they tell me they are more interested on what ever is on TV. And, for me, I will keep lying, but only when necessary… but I definitely won’t lie in order to dope, nor to lead a ponzi scheme, nor to cover up a conspiracy.