Liars Are Us

Liars are among us. Before you go off feeling insulted, ask yourself whether you have ever called-in sick when you knew you could have gone to work or school or service.  Ask yourself when you told someone how good they looked when you knew very well, they didn't. Or remember the time you wanted to get out of a promise and lied because you didn't want to hurt someone's feelings with the truth. Along with lying, goes the art of excuse making. "Sorry I can't go, I have a family event I cannot miss." Who is going to argue with family? "Please don't kiss me, I am just getting over a cold." An old maid aunt of mine used this with great success. "I'd love to do it, but I have to ----." Apologizing? It can work but that's another subject for another time. There are many varieties of liar. Some are professional liars. They sell something and lie to make their profit. There are the sneaky liars who try to blame someone else for their lying, saying that it isn't their fault when they know it actually is. There are the social liars who do it so that "friendships" run more smoothly. There are the pious liars who spout what others should be doing while doing what they know they as bigots, shouldn't. There are the innocent liars, perhaps small children, who don't know what a true lie is but give it a go in their naive desperation. This kind of liar soon learns what kinds of lies work and which do not, and thus, either hone their success or if caught, largely give up  their liar ambitions. The worst liar in my opinion, is someone who betrays  a friend or a lover or who has been assigned to be a caring individual. It is someone you may unwittingly built a trust with. They are worst because they plan to lie. They don't lie casually. They work out a design to best make you believe in them before striking: somewhat like a charming poisonous reptile.They can spend years on the art of making their lies work. They are the true thieves in the liar world. They remove small amounts of their goals over a long period of time so that their lies are hidden. Of course they are found out, but not until they have filched enough value from their lying investment, to make the punishment seem relatively minor.  There is no point in going on and on about what a terrible sin lying is, because it will never stop. It's been done since "Eden" if we're looking for origins.The beauty of human instinct, is that no one is really fooled by liars. Like termites, we humans have the natural ability to know what is going on inside other human beings whether we want to admit it or not. We are never very far from our basic animal genes. There are creatures who are much better at recognizing this ability that we also have, if we give it enough thought and effort. But we love to play the game and accept lies mostly because we all do it in some form or other at some time or other. It's part of what we are. Liars.