I
wonder if there is even a shard of pure truth remaining in this world. Every word
that anyone speaks is mixed with lies. People lie to save their skin; they lie
to save themselves from confrontation; they lie when they love someone; they
lie when they hate someone. However, I do not say that the intent is always
bad. Sometimes people lie because they think that’s the right thing to do.
Sometimes they lie because they think they are being good friends and
protecting their friends from hurt. The moral compass of our generation has
gone so haywire that it’s hard to imagine a life based on Gandhian philosophy.
Does the truth always liberate your soul? Lies have become so integrated in our
lives that it makes me wonder if we were to face the truth and just the truth,
will we be able to handle it?
Most
of the time we feel anger and mistrust, when we realize someone dear to us has
been lying to us. Sometimes we react and sometimes we overreact. We would vent
our anger and in turn end up hurting the dishonest person. We do this because we
feel the hurt that dishonesty causes. I do not blame the people who react,
after all the hurt is overwhelming. You feel betrayed and sad. You feel you’ve
lost a friend, since the person you trusted your innermost secrets with, has
been lying to you, God knows what else he could be lying about. There is no
solution, because even if you confront him with the intention to understand why
he did what he did, you wouldn’t believe the answer, since who knows if the
answer is also just another pack of lies. I am sure most of you would be
agreeing with me thus far.
What
we miss however, is that more often than not, we know the reason of his deceitful
behavior. What we also miss is to put ourselves in his shoes and see what we
would’ve done, had it been us in his place. The person, who lied to protect you
from hurt, must’ve cared a lot about you. Would you have done the same for him?
Most probably yes. Now what? Should we react in a less severe way and may be
forgive him if he asks for forgiveness? Or maybe we shouldn’t react at all?
Reality: none of these would give your wounded heart any relief. Lashing out
and losing a friend is also no relief, since he was your friend after all and
he helped you so many times to come out of your shell and see the world. At the
same time, his lie would never let you trust him in the same way again.
Was
Gandhi right? Is the truth always the right answer? Would always find solace if
everyone close to you always spoke the truth and if you always spoke the truth?
Would your heart be any less wounded than it is right now? Is lying always wrong?
Does it always bring misery and hurt along with it? Or is it sometimes a
necessity?
We
may not be able to answer these philosophical questions, but it’s definitely
worth to think, what your life would be if you were freed of all lies, if there
was no lie around you and you never lied either. Definitely worth a thought I
feel!
As
most of you are wondering by now, what will my reaction be towards the person
who inspired the article? Well, I’m not decided yet, and I am not sure if I
will give a strong reaction. However, I think its only fair to let him know
that I know about the lie. What next? Not sure.
