How can you justify a lie? Yes, there can be many reasons for that. Some people say that it was not really a lie, but somewhat the truth. But lets think about it. Lord Alfred Tennyson has given some idea about the same in his poem, The Grandmother – “That a lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies”. You can add enough ornaments to the lies and make it sound sweet or like truth, but no, that doesn’t justify anything. A lie is a lie, no matter if it comes dressed in gold, silver, pearls or diamonds. There are no sweet lies, and there are no true lies. When you add something to it and make it more believable or lovable, it is another step towards cheating.
This takes me years back, when I was striving to get my driving license, something which I wished to achieve immediately after I turned eighteen. I have had good balance for the two-wheeler and I was driving the car just okay enough. So, I thought that may be I will struggle with the four-wheeler license, but for the two-wheeler, I am surely getting that with ease. For some reason, what happened there was the other way around. I went through the “H” hurdle easily in the Maruti 800, but touched my left leg’s fingers on the ground when taking “8” on that Bajaj M80 which looked like the first two-wheeler on Earth.
I came back from the spot to see that nobody was looking. There was something going on outside the ground and people were busy staring towards that direction. So, nobody knows that my legs touched the ground. But those who studied driving with me had seen.
My first two-wheeler – the TVS Centra. Didn’t help much in the 8 chase though 😀
“It is okay. Nobody knows that your feet touched the ground. Just tell him that you completed it perfectly” one of them said.
“Yes, just don’t tell him that there was any contact with the ground” another one said.
“It can happen to anyone. There is nothing special in saying so” the next one said.
“But the fact remains that I did touch the ground” I said.
My instructor joined the conversation with a man from another driving school, as they came back from whatever was going on outside the ground.
“Listen to the other students. You were always supposed to get the license. I have seen you drive. There is nothing wrong with that. If this happened with the car, that would have been more of a concern. But I have never seen you make one wrong move with the two-wheeler. You can do this with so much ease even in your sleep. Didn’t you see that girl who had to hit the tree to stop the vehicle? That is the kind of driving that deserves no license. This is your first and it is because of the anxiety. It happens. Just tell that you completed the 8 without the feet touching the ground” he said.
“But what is the point of getting the driving license if I haven’t actually qualified?” I asked.
“It is all about being good enough to drive. Nobody is going to ask you to take an 8 on the centre of the road. Actually it is something that you should never do. If you say you touched the ground, you will have to come here on another day after giving the application again. Do you want to do that?” he asked.
“Yes, I would like to get the license when I qualify. If I can’t do this right, I don’t deserve to have a license. I shall come again” I said.
“Okay, go ahead then. It is your choice if you want to try again” he said.
So, I went to the officer and told him that my legs touched the ground once, and I didn’t do it as good as I had expected. He seemed to have a sense of disbelief in his eyes, and told me that it happens to everybody, asking me to make a try on the next date possible with confidence, as it was not a big deal. I came back two week later to claim my two-wheeler license, and it was a quick and steady process.
Part of my driving license – the two-wheeler authorization, as you see, was added later.
These days, when I drive, I have had a great amount of confidence with the two-wheelers, something which I never had with the four-wheelers. It is because I got it fair, while with the car, I just did what I was taught to do, as any surprise could have completely taken me off the plans. If I had got the driving license the very first time by lying, I wouldn’t have been this confident. When you choose to tell the truth instead of the lie, even as lying can make things easier and better, there is a satisfaction, and this is something that you can carry on with confidence.
I know that this world will find it difficult to follow the path of truth. I have my own relatives who keep telling the stories of their own or of their sons or daughters who had told lies to overcome a situation and made people fools. They say it as if it is some kind of achievement and these were signs of smartness. They were better than others because they could lie better. They deserved applause because they could handle other people in the wrong manner. Is this the kind of example that we set for the new generation? Isn’t this the main reason for the new generation losing their values?
There is a movie called Philips and the Monkeypen from last year in which there is a conversation between the father and the son – about truth not being bitter, and there is such a feeling of bitterness because lies are just too sweet. Yes, we do get the feeling that lies can get us achieve more. But I wonder what they can gain by achieving all the things in the world if they lose their soul? It will be a permanent mark on their conscience and one day, it can come back to haunt them. Every religion speaks against the lies, from the Ten Commandments to the Noble Eightfold Path.
This blog post was written in association with the Happy Hours campaign “Kitna chain hota hai na sachchai mein” from Kinley in association with Indiblogger. Do spare some time watch the video below, as this campaign from the company shows the significance of being honest and tells us to be dauntless and confident in speaking the truth, no matter how much we are afraid about the same. Remember the old saying “Honesty is the best policy”. Here is one girl showing the right example in Kinley 2014 TVC:
Let there be “Boond Boond Mein Sacchai” in our society, and not the dark lies of selfish motive 🙂 *The images used in this blog post are mine (photos taken by me on my camera), of course.
TeNy
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