Do you know the difference between what's true and a lie? This is a question they ask children before interrogating them. Yes, there are circumstances in which they do interrogate children. But if you're wondering they try to soften the blow by choosing to instead say they are "interviewing" the child. All and all this doesn't matter because what matters is that the child can distinguish between a truth and a lie.
Can you?
It's 9:47 pm at night. I've finished eating a spoonful of Peanut Butter because it's what my body wants. But is it really what my truly body wants or am I just lying to myself? By the time I've moved on to swallowing a gulp of Vanilla Almond Milk that unusual thought almost passes but not before I consider repeating another spoonful of Peanut Butter and instead I set down my glass.
Truth and lies. Something about lying makes me think of how little people really tell the truth:
I didn't ruin your pants by washing them in bleach and hot water.
I didn't leave the gate open letting the dog out.
I did do the dishes. But those ones weren't there when I finished.
You didn't. But you did. And you most likely you will do it again.
Why? Maybe humanity is pathological. Or maybe they are just lazy. I'm leaning toward pathologically lazy when I screw the cap back on the Peanut Butter and pour another glass of Almond Milk.
It's then I look up at the TV. The new digital thing that is resting on my wall. I didn't need the TV… But I did.
I really didn't… But I did.
It's a reminder of the worst way that people lie to themselves, yet I needed it. Rather wanted it.
But I won't really watch the TV…
LIAR!
But I really won't. At least not in the sense that you may think of television viewing.
Toss the knives… I can juggle them as well as throw them back now. And I never miss my mark.
But juggling knives won't make a difference when I say that I won't watch the TV. It's now playing and I'm writing with my back turned away from it. It's providing the most lovely background sound for my typing. Because…
I will listen to the TV most of the time.
And there's the truth and a lie.
You think I said I won't USE the TV.
I will use the TV.
I said I wouldn't watch the TV.
And I probably won't most of the time.
But I will USE the TV.
So the truth and the lie are they up to interpretation or are they truly the things we tell ourselves to make it alright for one more day?
Somewhere someone is lying to someone and someone is telling the truth.
When I think of the truth and the lie I stop to wonder if they can be the same thing. Can one person see things so differently that it is indeed a lie to another? It's then I realize that it must possible to have both the lie and the truth and never be without the other because people will never see things exactly the same.
I will listen to my TV.
You will think I'm watching my TV.
I will think you're bad mannered with your disagreements.
By the time I've finished my Vanilla Almond Milk decisively without another spoonful of Peanut Butter I realize somewhere someone is being interrogated, possibly a child.
And...
The truth is sometimes a lie but a lie can not be the truth.
kisses,
m.