Cassie's Book Club - Little White Lies

So, lately I have been absolutely devouring books. Devouring them. All sorts of wonderful weird books of all shapes and sizes.

I recently finished two books written by Gemma Townley, When in Rome – A Novel of Pizzas and Passion and Little White Lies – A Novel of Love and Good Intentions. Great fun, cute, girlie books. There were both super easy to read and really get you drawn into the story. Of the two, my favourite was Little White Lies. It is about a quirky country girl who has just moved to London, who assumes the identity of the city girl she is subletting her apartment from. Things eventually spiral out of control when she meets a man under her new identity. She lies to her new boyfriend, her family, her friends, her boss and even complete strangers. It got me thinking, how many lies are spouted everyday? How many people stretch the truth? How much of what we are told is true?

As little kids, we learn the rhyme “Liar, Liar Pants on Fire, Hanging from the Telephone wire!” Those words were sung to my sister by Mom and Dad during a family trip in our old Datsun when they caught her in a bold faced lie. She was 6. She was so distraught. She really thought she was going to end up hanging meters above the street. Was this enough to deter her from lying for the rest of her life? Not really. She still tells her husband “I’m fine” when things are definitely not “fine”.

Is lying something we learn from our parents? Or is it something programmed into our souls? A form of self-protection. I am not sure, but, even at the age of 4, my niece lies. She does it instinctively when she knows she is in trouble.

So, I am going to step up and admit it! Sometimes I lie. Sometimes it is much easier and much safer than telling the truth. Sometimes I am really good at lying, and other times people see right through me. And other times I can’t figure out why I am even doing it. Is it a lack of confidence? Sometimes. Is it shame? A lot of the time. And sometimes I even lie to myself. Deep down I know it is not the truth, but I am determined to keep the truth from myself.

I don't really know if lying is good, bad of neutral. Maybe it is something we need to do sometimes. Maybe we shouldn't do it at all. Maybe it would be easier if my pants burst spontaneously into flame whenever I lied. Maybe that would stop me. Come to think of it, probably not.