The Subtle Art of Half-Truths: Deception or Protection?

As a child, my parents always made sure to train my siblings and I to go by the truth and the truth alone. We didn’t know what lies were in our home because there was really no reason to lie. But in the outside world, I had so may encounters with lies. In school, in the market and even in the vehicle. We all know that situation where you sit in a bus and someone receives a call telling the other party they are at this location when we all know they’re not even close to that place. And we all say stuff in our heads, like we wished we knew the person on the other end of the phone to tell them the truth. That’s life for you.

When we speak of lies, everyone lies and there’s no doubt about that. People lie for so many reasons best known to them. People lie because they just want to lie- no reason whatsoever and other lie to either protect others or themselves. Either way, a lie is still a lie I guess. At my age, I don’t see any reason why I should lie to someone because even if I speak the truth, you wouldn’t beat me and that’s a fact. On the daily basis, I meet grown ass people who have made it their life’s goal to lie about everything they possibly can. And that’s not really the way to go as an adult.

Todays hive learners weekly engagement topic asks us to dive into the lie of omission and funny enough, we are all guilt as charged, myself inclusive. Sometimes we tell the truth, but omit some parts. In a way, I wouldn’t even call it a lie. It’s the truth, except without some specific details. I have found myself in such a situation where I have to omit some key details from information I’m giving for my own sake. For example, let’s say I buy a bag or a dress which is very expensive. Everyone knows it’s expensive, but my mom who’s from the older generation wouldn’t understand why it’s expensive so when she asks about the price, I make sure to reduce it to an amount she would consider reasonable and even with that, I end up being told I got cheated. In my mind, I’m like ‘it could even be worse’.😂

In a situation like this, I’m just saving both of us the trouble of getting into a fight over something I bought with my own money. A fight with my mom over such things isn’t good. So to make sure we are all happy, I have to omit some parts of the truth. If this is also considered a lie, then I’m ready to be hanged or shot so many times.😂😂 I personally prefer to be told the truth in all situations because I know I can handle it but not everyone can handle it in some situations and that’s probably where the lie of omission comes in.

We all know telling lies isn’t something to be proud of as individuals, but you will agree with me that sometimes it just necessary. Just don’t make it an everyday thing.

all images belong to me.