Lying...
I recently completed a super-short story/character sketch [SS/CS] entitled The Lie (download link
here
) and while these SS/CS writing is just an exercise that lets me create and explore a character over 1 or 2 pages, it got me thinking...
One of my biggest pet peeves in life is people who lie for no reason. I’m not talking about politicians; let’s face it - lying is their lives vocation. And I’m not talking about people in bad relationships who lie about seeing someone else so they can have a little piece of happiness while they try to work out the details of their lives - been there, done that, and I can empathize. And nope, I’m not even talking about parents - who habitually lie to children as a means of ‘protecting them’ from the realities of the world around:
“What?!” Johnny wails on the eve of his High School graduation “You mean you guys have been lying to me all the time and Santa Claus isn’t real?!” He stomps his feet on the ground and continues, “what are you gonna tell me next - that the Easter Bunny doesn’t exist either?!”
Okay - so the scene was a little dramatic...but, yeah, I knew a handful of these kids in elementary and middle school...and I don’t think mom and dad’s fibs were doing them any favors. But back to my original point - I particularly despise the pointless and stupid little lies that people tell each other everyday, and you know just what I’m talking about. As when you’re out with a friend and he/she tells you that you cannot post on FB, Twitter, etc (or for that matter even take any pictures of the fun things you are doing) because they’ve told another ‘friend’ that they are out of town since they “didn’t know how to explain they didn’t want to hang out with them today.” Here’s how to explain it: “Hey, dude, I don’t feel like hanging out with you today.” Simple, right? Apparently not.
Other shades of mistruth that I find particularly aggravating include the ‘passive lie’ - as when I say to someone - “You’re gonna be there tonight at 7pm with the rest of us, right?” And they simply respond something like “yeah, sure” instead of actually clarifying that they have no intention of coming tonight. Then they go into ‘radio silence’ mode, where it seems as though they have fallen off the earth and we fear that we may need to send the army out looking for them as we all stand around waiting for them as 7pm edges toward 7:30pm before we finally give up and set out for the night. AGGRAVATING.
And finally, there’s the old ‘make you feel good lie’ which just sort of makes me laugh at its irony. The fact that someone will make an overt effort to tell you something completely untrue simply for the sake of improving your mood...while completely forgetting that when you eventually discover the lie, you will probably be twice as unhappy as you are now. Hmmmm. A case in point is that many friends and strangers alike have bought my most recent book, 7200 Days . However, I still get messages from people I know claiming they are ‘just about to purchase’ a copy or ‘haven’t had the time yet, but they are so excited to read it’...but I can see who purchases and they are still not among them. Ha! To be honest, writing a book isn’t exactly like selling Girl Scout Cookies or candy for the school soccer team and I have no intention of shaking down all the people I know to by mine - if they don’t want to, they shouldn’t feel the need to...and they definitely shouldn’t feel the need to tell me they will if they have no real plan to.
Okay, that’s it - I’m off my soapbox again :-) Time to get back to some real writing/editing on my current work in progress, entitled The Greatest Pursuit. Sample chapters are available for download here, so feel free to download, read and provide feedback for my editing process as a ‘beta reader’. And remember: I don’t have a gun to your head, so don’t feel they need to say you’re going to do it unless you really are :-)
What do you think?
One of my biggest pet peeves in life is people who lie for no reason. I’m not talking about politicians; let’s face it - lying is their lives vocation. And I’m not talking about people in bad relationships who lie about seeing someone else so they can have a little piece of happiness while they try to work out the details of their lives - been there, done that, and I can empathize. And nope, I’m not even talking about parents - who habitually lie to children as a means of ‘protecting them’ from the realities of the world around:
“What?!” Johnny wails on the eve of his High School graduation “You mean you guys have been lying to me all the time and Santa Claus isn’t real?!” He stomps his feet on the ground and continues, “what are you gonna tell me next - that the Easter Bunny doesn’t exist either?!”
Okay - so the scene was a little dramatic...but, yeah, I knew a handful of these kids in elementary and middle school...and I don’t think mom and dad’s fibs were doing them any favors. But back to my original point - I particularly despise the pointless and stupid little lies that people tell each other everyday, and you know just what I’m talking about. As when you’re out with a friend and he/she tells you that you cannot post on FB, Twitter, etc (or for that matter even take any pictures of the fun things you are doing) because they’ve told another ‘friend’ that they are out of town since they “didn’t know how to explain they didn’t want to hang out with them today.” Here’s how to explain it: “Hey, dude, I don’t feel like hanging out with you today.” Simple, right? Apparently not.
Other shades of mistruth that I find particularly aggravating include the ‘passive lie’ - as when I say to someone - “You’re gonna be there tonight at 7pm with the rest of us, right?” And they simply respond something like “yeah, sure” instead of actually clarifying that they have no intention of coming tonight. Then they go into ‘radio silence’ mode, where it seems as though they have fallen off the earth and we fear that we may need to send the army out looking for them as we all stand around waiting for them as 7pm edges toward 7:30pm before we finally give up and set out for the night. AGGRAVATING.
And finally, there’s the old ‘make you feel good lie’ which just sort of makes me laugh at its irony. The fact that someone will make an overt effort to tell you something completely untrue simply for the sake of improving your mood...while completely forgetting that when you eventually discover the lie, you will probably be twice as unhappy as you are now. Hmmmm. A case in point is that many friends and strangers alike have bought my most recent book, 7200 Days . However, I still get messages from people I know claiming they are ‘just about to purchase’ a copy or ‘haven’t had the time yet, but they are so excited to read it’...but I can see who purchases and they are still not among them. Ha! To be honest, writing a book isn’t exactly like selling Girl Scout Cookies or candy for the school soccer team and I have no intention of shaking down all the people I know to by mine - if they don’t want to, they shouldn’t feel the need to...and they definitely shouldn’t feel the need to tell me they will if they have no real plan to.
Okay, that’s it - I’m off my soapbox again :-) Time to get back to some real writing/editing on my current work in progress, entitled The Greatest Pursuit. Sample chapters are available for download here, so feel free to download, read and provide feedback for my editing process as a ‘beta reader’. And remember: I don’t have a gun to your head, so don’t feel they need to say you’re going to do it unless you really are :-)
What do you think?
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