The Omission Paradox

Lying is something I don't like to do, and this is because whenever I do tell a lie, I become restless, and this is simply because I happen to be the kind of person who likes to be very careful when doing anything. I always think of ways something could either go right or wrong before going ahead to actually do that thing.

_{photo by Christina Langford-Miller}

Of course there have been a few moments where I've taken some risks by deciding not to think too much and just doing whatever that thing is, but that rarely happens because I'm not a big fan of bad surprises, or in this case, getting caught in a lie.

So, whenever I do tell a lie, the majority of the time it's mostly for a joke, to which I will eventually tell you it's a lie, and then we all laugh about it. But hey, I'm not a saint; there are moments where I felt like I didn't have a choice but to lie, which shouldn't be a big deal for me, but it is.

The reason that is the case for me is that as a very careful guy, whenever I do tell a lie, I always make sure I cover all loopholes that could lead to you finding out the truth, because why lie if the person you're lying to could easily ask one or two people a question and find out the truth?

So let's say I lie to my parents that I'm going to my friend's place to do an assignment when in reality I'm on my way to a party. What I do is I don't only tell that friend (who probably isn't going to the party with me) about my lie so that he can help me cover up if there's ever a need for me to call him in the presence of my parents to confirm that I was indeed at his place; I also make sure to write out a fake assignment that I can present to them as proof of me actually doing my assignment.

Now, depending on how scared I am, I could also go further by writing another similar assignment (but with a different handwriting) for my friend, just in case my dad decides to investigate further and ask my friend to come with his own assignment.

So, by the end of the day, I found out that every time I tell a lie, I always do too much to try to cover up that lie, which to me is very exhausting, and I would rather tell the truth and do what's right than go through all of that process, unless telling that lie is really worth it.

This is one of the main reasons why I rarely lie, this and also the fact that I just hate it when people lie to me, so I try to lead by example by not lying to them.

But you see, when it comes to lying by omission, it's not exactly the same process as just lying, because although you're not telling the entire truth, you're telling some of it; the only difference is that you're doing it in a way where it works in your favor.

And of course that doesn't make what you're doing right, but to me it's better than just telling an outright lie.