Truth is a Rare Thing – Part I

I love to write! It’s a passion that has grown over the past fifteen or twenty years, and my only regret is that it didn’t happen sooner. If my high school English teacher still had his feet on this earth’s soil and if he learned that I was a published author or that I’d dare make the statement that I love to write…well, Mr. Johnston would probably laugh outrageously! Why? Because it wasn’t my passion in school. Oh, I liked the mechanics of writing, the sentence structure, punctuation and the like, but I was notorious for being longwinded in my essays and exams, receiving curt reminders that lengthy responses to questions were unnecessary when the answer was in the first paragraph!

Alas…that was many years ago!

Over the past few days I have been helping my two high school grandchildren with their essays…you know, the ones that are due tomorrow!  Taking their work and shifting sentences, adding or removing punctuation, or correcting verb tenses and explaining the reason why is right up my alley. I enjoy doing this. I want to help; but equally as much, I want them to experience a sense of pride at a job well done, their job well done! I say that because I must be careful. It would be very easy for me to just do it all and let them hand it in. That would not only be unfair to them, but it would be wrong: It would be teaching Ben and Laura that it’s okay to deceive…to lie.

It seems we live in a world where white lies are acceptable. Where telling half truths are tolerated, lies of omission are often ignored and light-hearted fibbing and seemingly harmless cheating are overlooked. It appears to be an after-all-no-one-will-get-hurt mentality…look out for Number One at all costs. Where and how have we failed as a society? All you have to do is Google honesty quotes and you will get an idea of our tolerance of lying, even to the point of ridiculing the truth.

Turning in an essay that comes from another’s hand is a no brainer: It’s wrong, plain and simple. But what about the little white lie that is spoken when it detours us from an awkward situation if we spoke the truth? Are we okay with lying rather than hurting someone else? A little white lie under these circumstances seems not only acceptable, but appropriate.

There now, I’ve said it…a little white lie. Don’t you find it interesting how we mask the sin of lying? We use less condemning expressions like, “It’s just a little white lie” or “It’s just a small fib. No one will ever know.”

…to be continued