T ruth always prevails- this slogan and similar ones are often painted on the walls of the classrooms in the schools. The teachers reinforce the same though in their hearts of hearts they know that the teachings are quite likely to be unlearned in the future. As expected, confusing signals emerge for the child. The call bell of the house rings.
Dad, the role model of the child, identifies the creditor from the CCTV system screen. He tells his wife, ‘Please go to the gate and tell him that I am out of station for five days. ‘Dad, you lied!’ the astonished child says. The dad acquires a sheepish look and manages to say, ‘Sometimes there is no alternative but to hide the truth.’
As the child grows up, it realizes that those who commit the sin of lying aren’t necessarily punished by God and they often keep on ascending the ladder of success. We can’t do without lies, deception and subterfuge since they are intertwined in almost every human activity. An obituary mostly consists of falsehoods.
I have never read in an obituary- this person was a crook, bank defaulter and had a roving eye. One of the best ways to maintain a relationship is to regularly pep up your partner with a mix of true and false praise. Buttering of superiors at the workplace is universal. Also, some employees, whose families live far away, declare their mother-in-law dead many a times in their life to avail long leave.
A nephew of my friend undertakes solo trips in remote areas of the Himalayas on his motorcycle and posts about them on a travel
website.
One day, while listening to his hair-raising travel story, I asked him, ‘Do your parents know about it?’ ‘Of course not. Will they ever allow me to undertake such adventures!’ he replied. It is said that you grow up once you stop following all the diktats of your parents. But one should also avoid direct confrontation especially if a parent has paucity of anger management skills. So, lies come to our aid. However, the parents may put up a façade too- some of them pretend they haven’t noticed that their young son or daughter is in a drunken state. After all, they have passed through the same stage in their youth. Even physicians speak lies to keep hope alive. A doctor will never tell a critical patient, ‘You have slim chances of survival.’
Imagine, if everyone was totally truthful- many of us would have been rusticated from school, disowned by parents, lost jobs, failed in business, got divorced and put behind the bars for tax evasion. If a boy or girl reveals all previous affairs on the first date in a restaurant, the stage of ordering a dessert is rarely reached. And even if the dessert is eaten, one ends with a bitter taste in the mouth.
We can find a middle ground and generally speak the truth but also make the strategic use of lies which are exempted from the ‘pure sin’ category (ones which don’t harm an individual or the society).
Truth always prevails- in movies and in children’s books!
Jas Kohli is a noted humour writer. He is the author of three bestselling humour novels, ‘Lights! Wedding! Ludhiana!’, ‘Lights! Scalpel! Romance!’, and ‘Anything to Look Ho