Yes, yes, I know... We have all grown up with the constant threats from our parents about not lying... Whether you are a Catholic and must live with guilt, or have strict parents... the punishment we are told we will endure if we lie has been instilled in all of us from the day we are born...
But truthfully, we all come into this world with a chip that enables us to lie... and from a very young age we put it into very good use: "I don't know who broke that lamp!", "I don't feel good, can I miss school today?", "She hit me first!!"... "His parents were in the house, I swear!" yes, yes... these are mere samples of more lies to come...
As we grow older, we are told that it is ok to say a few white lies, mainly to save ourselves from hurting others... "I woke up with a terrible headache" (when you don't want to go to that dreadful baby shower), or "That dress looks gorgeous on you!"(the polka dots are making me dizzy...), or maybe... "You don't look fat at all!" (yeah... sure you don't!)...
And then there are those little white lies which, in this day and age of technology, can only cause friction and perhaps end friendships... "I never got your message!", "My answering machine broke!", "My phone died"... humm..... Let me share with you how I discovered the little white lies of many of my friends... do they even like me?? I won't take it personally, because I too am guilty...
You may get away with a little white lie... but Social Networks don't lie... Let me save you some embarrassment...
(Names, genders and events have been changed in order to protect identities)
So I sent out an invitation through facebook on private message to a few of my girlfriends... who I thought liked me at least a little... The event came and went with good attendance... but then this girlfriend in particular tells me, straight to my face "Sorry I missed your event, I never read your message!!!" What she didn't know, and which I will share with you now, is that I discovered that when you read your messages directly from your cell phone, you are able to see WHO actually read each of your messages, as well as at what TIME, and the DATE it was read...!! AH!!!! I was shocked!!!! BEWARE OF TELLING SOMEONE YOU NEVER GOT THEIR MESSAGE! THEY WILL KNOW YOU ARE LYING!!
Another way you can get caught! I called a friend the other day... She tells me she missed my call because her phone had died and she was sleeping.... what she didn't know is that ten minutes after I called and left her a message, I saw a status she posted on facebook and right under the status it read: "5 minutes ago via Mobile"!! AH!! Caught you!!! BEWARE OF WHAT IS WRITTEN RIGHT UNDER YOUR STATUS!! Pick up the phone!!!!
I'm not done... I was on a trip to San Francisco, and someone who I dearly love posts a check-in: "So and so is at the Marina Village Shopping Center"... I wouldn't have thought twice about it, except that right under the name of the mall it read: Alameda, CA (which is literally 15 minutes away from where we were). So I write: "Cool!! I didn't know you were here!" And she says: "What? No!! I'm in Louisiana!!" Humm.... can technology make a mistake?? BEWARE OF YOUR LOCATION POSTS!!!!
And last but not least... when people tell you they can't come to your party because they are not feeling good or have a boring literary convention or scientific conference.... BEWARE OF TAGS FROM FRIENDS!! You WILL find out that the conference they were going to is actually another party with some other friends who they may consider cooler than you!!! And by the way, the picture is great! You look really cool in that outfit!
Pitiful, right? Should I find new friends?? Perhaps some of them... but not all... I am also guilty of white lies and I'm sure I've been caught in a few. To tell you the truth, I would rather not know so many details about who said what or when or where... Because someone is bound to get in trouble. Sometimes we just want to be left alone, or be somewhere else... and that doesn't mean we love each other less. I guess we just have to be more careful of what we say and do when there are millions of eyes watching us. At least we can still get away with saying: "You don't look fat at all!!" Unless they invent a mind-reading machine…
