Are we habitual liars...?

A scene from an old movie goes like this. The bride's parents meet the to-be-bridegroom and enquire about his background. He says he is having a government job, earns handsomely, no bad habits like drinking or smoking etc. But finally he says that he has the habit of telling lies....! That was the master stroke. That negates whatever he said earlier.

Human beings are supposed to speak only the truth and refrain from telling lies. All scriptures preach this dictum. But are we able to follow this in real life? An emphatic NO.

In real life situations, it is rather very difficult not to tell a lie. At some point or the other, we will be facing such situations where we have to tell a lie or at least camouflage a truth. There are some lies, which are called "white lies". They do not harm anyone. There are no ill-effects of telling that lie. It is said that there is nothing wrong in telling a lie, if it causes a good result. A helpless poor guy is avoiding to be found by a goon, who is chasing him. He hides in your place and when enquired by the ruffian, you say that he (the poor guy) has gone the other side (to side-track the bad guy). In this situation, the lie actually is having a very good effect.

In business also, people tend to casually tell lies. As long as it is not detrimental to the final result, it is okay to speak such lies. It happens everyday. Another domain where unbelievable lies are very common is 'advertisement of products'. You can relate to many products. The product promoters sprinkle copious amount of plain and blatant lies, to attract the prospective customers. Various media (print, social, broadcasting....) are strewn with innumerable lies. Even the honest champions of the press have become highly corrupted and the result is that we cannot believe any of them now. It is for us to sieve through and remove the chaff.

There is a place called 'court' where lies and truth are traded in equal measures. But the irony is that everyone is supposed to tell 'the truth and nothing but the truth' (as per the oath taken in the beginning). One lawyer will reel off lies and prove them to be true, with the connivance of the witnesses. The other lawyer will tell all the truth but he would not be able to prove his case, due to hostile witnesses (bought by the other lawyer). The verdict is obvious....!

There is yet another place where lies rule the day - 'politics'. Most of the politicians (with a few exceptions) tell 'lies and nothing but the lies', in all walks of life. The more a politician tells lies, he becomes a powerful politician.

So, 'telling lies' and 'listening to them' have become integral part of life. It is for the honest people to maneuver through the maze of lies and come out unscathed.

Once there was a contest. The one who tells the biggest lie (unbelievable), will be awarded the prize. One guy told that he climbed Mount Everest when he was 3 years of age. Another person said that he sprinted 100 Meter race in 7.85 seconds (in a local competition). Yet another fellow said that he never spoke a lie in his entire life. He was awarded the prize!

A 'whatsapp' message I received recently reads as follows:
Telling a lie is a
sin for a child,
fault for an adult,
an art for a lover,
a profession for a lawyer,
a requirement for a politician,
a management tool for a boss,
an accomplishment for a bachelor,
an excuse for a subordinate,
but a matter of survival for a married man!