The Truth Comes Out in the Wash

I will never understand liars. There have been studies upon studies done to try to explain why people lie and what can be done to help them stop lying. But I will never understand it.

I am not talking about the lies we tell our children about Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. Or the little white lies we tell our clients at work. The worst offenders are the habitual liars whose lives are filled with untruths.

It is easier to tell the truth. It just is. Life is simpler with the truth. There's no covering and backtracking and anticipating what the next leg of the lie will be. Besides that, if you don't tell the truth, eventually someone else will or it will pop up in one way or another or you'll get busted in the tangled web of lies you've woven day in and day out.

What I don't understand even more than liars are the people that continue to listen to the liars. If someone has shown himself or herself to be untrustworthy, why continue to give them the benefit of the doubt? Just like so many other old adages, if they have lied to you, they will lie about you. And some other fool will believe them and then you look like... Well, you look like whatever picture that liar has painted.

There are so many reasons to lie. People lie to save others pain. They lie to avoid dealing with the truth themselves. Some people lie because the stories they come up with are more exciting than the truth. Others lie to make you look bad and to make themselves look good.

But the reason and the motivation doesn't matter in this case. Lying hurts people. And when the truth eventually comes out in the wash and it is the liar who is still soiled and stained, there is still a foggy unclarity surrounding the situation. It causes uneasiness among the people. It ruins reputations. It causes distrust and wipes out relationships completely. Lying dissolves friendships. It destroys families. The cons so clearly outweigh the pros.

The five or ten minutes of fun or satisfaction that one may feel in the midst of a lie is not worth the destruction it causes to those around you. And continuing to listen to the lies perpetuates the problem. By believing and buying into the lying of another, you are aiding and abetting in the pain and destruction of others.

I will never understand liars.