The Redhead Riter - Witty, Intelligent & Addictive: lie

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I just couldn't stand the hot weather any longer, so I jumped on a plane and now I am standing on a frozen mountain in an exotic location. Since landing, I have purchased a snowmobile, a four-wheel drive vehicle and a cabin that is nestled in the trees at the edge of a forest. I've always wanted to live in a place like this and now I finally have the opportunity.

There are a lot of beautiful rock formations around the property, but most of them are buried in ice right now. I'm told that they are a vivid brown which is a shocking contrast against the deep green of the forest. I think this beautiful mountain is going to be the perfect place to live even though no one speaks English and my nearest neighbor is about twenty minutes away.

The ice formations are just breathtaking too. I know that I will enjoy waking up each morning to look across the valley and watch the sun rise. I'm already excited about all the pictures I will be able to take and post on my blog. The river rushes constantly and although it is at the bottom of the valley, I can still hear it from my porch swing. Every bit of the landscape relaxes my frazzled mind.

Sigh. My stomach is growling because I haven't taken time to eat and I'm really hungry. I was just thinking about a few people I know that embellish the truth a whole bunch. Actually, they add so much to the truth that it really turns into a lie. People do that sometimes because they don't really know the truth. Magazines do that kind of embellishing/lying all the time about celebrities. I am so out of the loop with the celebrity world that I wouldn't be able to tell if what I was reading was the truth or not.

I wonder why people make up lies about other people? There are many reasons people embellish the truth and fill in the gaps of missing information. Did you ever hear, "Don't believe everything you read" or "Don't believe everything you're told"? It is human nature to create drama especially when information is missing. That is the type of drama people should not participate in because it leads to hurtful lies way too often.

Why am I talking about lies while I'm standing on a frozen mountain in an exotic location? Well, I was thinking about all the trauma I have suffered over the past fifteen months. All of the experiences were beyond my control and just things that happen like sickness and death. However, one of the contributing factors to making my PTSD worse was caused by a person at my work who does not have integrity. Let's just call him Mr. Liar since I will not tell you his real name. Mr. Liar took it upon himself to create a story to cover his inadequacies and so that he could get what he wanted without a big hassle. Unfortunately, I was the one that suffered because of Mr. Liar's lie. Since I am trying to work through my anger at the situation with Mr. Liar, telling you about the frozen mountain in an exotic location will help you better understand my point.

Whether you call it an embellishment or an omission of information, it is still a lie. Not telling the truth will always look ugly and most of the time it will also hurt another person. I am actually mending albeit s-l-o-w-l-y and with no thanks to Mr. Liar's contribution to the situation. It is really rather hard to talk to people at work without knowing if they heard the lie and believe it to be true. I have come to the point where I know that Mr. Liar will suffer for his lies and that is comforting.

I know you have been looking at the frozen pictures and trying to put your mind around me just hopping on a plane and flying away to resettle in a different home. It sounds totally out of character doesn't it? That's my point! Don't believe everything people gossip about no matter who they are or what their position is at work, church, school or in the neighborhood. They might tell you that they are on a frozen mountain in an exotic location...

When they are really just looking at a container of frozen beans that they made last week.

Yeah, I really did just tell you that story and I bet you think about it the next time you are tempted to gossip or lie. At least, I hope you do and that you bite your tongue and don't say a word instead.

Today I looked down and saw the monkey grass obeying the call of spring with brightly colored green leaves emerging from the earth and splaying across the mulch. The rich earth, the fresh mulch and new green all together in the bed looks refreshing after the brown of winter.

Among all the new growth I spied a large clump of green leaves and bright yellow flowers completely out of place because they are weeds. To a person without knowledge of weeds, they may believe that these weedy flowers belong in the bed amongst the monkey grass and fresh mulch. However, to the trained eye, a Dandelion is simply an unwanted, pesky weed that is hard to exterminate. The Dandelion's deep, twisted, and brittle taproot regenerates if it is not completely removed.

Dandelion's are like lies. Initially, to the unsuspecting, a lie sounds wonderful especially if it is surrounded by a lot of truth. Once you tell a lie, it is hard to remove the effects of the lie. You can work hard at making recompense for the damage caused by a lie, but once another person has been hurt, only time heals and softens the reality of the aftermath of lying.

If you tell one lie, usually you have to tell another to keep the untruth from being discovered. Then you have to tell another lie to cover the second lie and a vicious cycle is created. An uncomfortable series of events.

On the flip side, if we want others to always tell us the truth, we should be prepared to accept it without condemnation. We are not going to always like the facts - the truth. However, if we are going to expect the truth, then we must also be willing to accept the truth with an open mind void from being judgmental.

The key element in accepting the truth and telling the truth is the trust that we feel in the relationship whether it be with a friend or family member. Being trustworthy is an ongoing trait that can be added upon or taken from, but it applies to everyone. Flying off the handle in the face of a truth makes you an untrusted person with whom to share the truth which is part of the reason people lie. I'm not saying that it is right or wrong, I'm just stating that it is one of the main motivators to lie for people who are basically honest.

Think about your relationships. Are they open and accepting enough that people feel safe enough to tell you the truth to avoid Dandelion lies?