Once upon a time ago, we believed in tales that began with “once upon a time.”
We grew up with Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and other fictional characters created in the hopes of preserving our childlike wonder and innocence.
As we were being taught these fantasies, we were also being instructed to hold truth deep within our hearts, and speak it at all costs. Yet at the same time, when a family member asked, “Does this dress make me look fat?” the immediate answer always remained—”nope!”
We have all been both victim and the offender of falsehoods. We’ve been guilty of lying with just a few easy words, often killing two hearts with one stone- our own and those we are lying to.
I realize lying is a part of human nature, but that does not make it any more acceptable. However the point I hope to articulate is not to make people stop lying, but rather to ask why.
Why would we ever want the story of our lives to be categorized as fiction?
Perhaps it is because every “once upon a time” ends with the “they lived happily ever after” spiel. But if we lie in an attempt to live happily ever after, the joke’s on us, as we are actually just fictionalizing our lives. You see, in order to truly achieve a happily ever after, we need to grasp that there is no such thing. We need to stop conducting the story of our lives in a fairytale fashion and ultimately just face reality.
No matter how lovely we imagine our lives to be…
No false words spoken and worn as an armor will ward off our grim truths. All it will do is preserve false hopes and we would simply be lying to ourselves. How could we possibly expect an armor of fibs to keep us secure, when we fail to be secure in the truth we hold inside ourselves?
If we allow our lies to simply lie, ignoring the heavy gravity these lies bestow, we are only creating a tangled web more complicated than even this sentence. And whether we choose to weave the web or wear it as an armor, the only thing we are disguising is the idea that we are fooling anyone.
The fact is, we can live happily,
as long as the “ever after” is within our own reality.
PS- Fun facts about the Author: While writing this article, I was cleaning and found one of my mom’s old watches (think circa early 1990’s; also how I manage to write and clean at the same time is beyond me). I feel like finding her watch was her way of telling me to watch the words I say with the time I have allotted. Either way, discovering her watch is a happy ending I’ll take!
