It is really interesting when I think about how many times I thought someone was telling the truth, only to later find out that I have been lied to. Well, that went on until I decided to pray and learn how to be more discerning and sensitive when listening to people.
As a child, I was taught by the elders in my family to always say the truth no matter what. They made me to understand that if I did any wrong, it was better to own up rather than lie. Thinking of the punishment that I would receive if my lies were discovered made me so scared that I never considered telling lies an option.
Until one day...
I had been asking my mum for 10kobo to buy a crotchet to make a bag, but she didn't give me. And then, I happened to see a 10kobo coin on the window pane. Thinking my prayer had miraculously been answered by God, I took it and zoomed off to get myself a crotchet pin. I was about 10 years old at that time
Come see wahala!
An elderly woman in the family began to say she was looking for her coin. I knew it was the coin I took when she kept going to the same window, saying she remembered that she had left it there earlier. I was so ashamed of myself for taking a coin that didn't belong to me, yet I kept my mouth shut, hoping they will forget about it.
But my mum called me aside and asked how I got my crochet since she never gave me the money I had been asking her for. I knew I couldn't lie to my mother, so I told her the truth expecting to receive the worst punishment ever.
To My surprise, my mother brought out a 10kobo coin and gave me, saying that she had wanted to buy the crochet for me by herself. She told me to quickly take the coin back to the woman and apologise. I went to the woman, gave her the coin but couldn't find the words to explain what happened. She however collected the money from me and not do that ever again.
From that point forward, I made up my mind to stay away from things that would make me tell lies.
However...
As an adult, I have come across many other adults (some of them older, and some about my age, not to mention those who are younger...) who obviously believe that they cannot get ahead or receive help without telling lies. Now, it is either they were not corrected as children or they just love to tell lies.
I have encountered clients who owed me, coming to tell me stories that touch the heart until I got to discover that they were just lying to me.
I have had employees who stayed away from work under the pretense of travelling for something very urgent, only to discover that they never went anywhere.
The worst lie that I was told recently, however was by a young married lady in my school who had two young children. She lives in our neighbourhood while her husband lives elsewhere in Lagos to be closer to his office.
Several times, this lady would be absent from work claiming that her kids were sick and that they had an appointment at the hospital. We all kept sympathising with her until we discovered that she was just using those times to go the market to get items for her new shop. And My first reaction was, why use sickness as an excuse? Why tell lies about your children's health? Perhaps, she doesn't even know the implications of doing that, and that made me feel sorry for her. But then... it is what it is.
Thank you for reading. This is my entry for #aprilinleo day 2. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section, and I will get back to you.
Image is a free-to-use image from pixabay.com
