He Lied
Shaindle shares her thoughts and an original poem about truth.
Shaindle Schmuckler spreads her energy and humor as a regular contributor to the Atlanta Jewish Times.
We all lie. Well, most of us find there are moments we feel we must. The infamous little white lies absolutely count in this context. Are you aware of Shalom Beit? (peace in the home?)
Two friends meet for lunch. “You look great, did you lose some weight?” the gorgeous tall, real blond, blue-eyed beauty untruthfully says to her shorter, wimpy, brown-haired, not bad looking friend. Of course, now Wimpy hair is not going to order that burger she was salivating about. Wimpy hair now orders a salad, which she did not want at all. Wimpy hair is already planning to drop Blondie from her lunch friend list.
Blondie did not have to say anything to Wimpy, did she? Truth would have expected her to simply keep her thoughts, whatever they may have been, to herself and keep her mouth shut!
Critical enters the new home of her friend we shall refer to as Excited. Critical proclaims that her friend, Excited, did a wonderful job decorating her home in such an eclectic décor. Critical covers her mouth to hide her little white lie and her laughter by coughing in a way that alarmed Excited, who then ran to the kitchen to get Critical some cool water. Of course, Excited used her new purple water glasses. These water glasses took her months to find. She had a particular look she wanted. Truth was disappointed in Critical.
A doctor telling a family; “It’s too soon to tell,” when Truth knows the doctor can indeed tell, would do well to give the family the truth.
I don’t know how you spend a quiet day relaxing. I will retreat to my screened back porch or on a comfy chair in my family room engrossed, sometimes mesmerized, in a book. Sometimes, I become so lost in the story or the characters,
I lose sight of where I am.
I do have some authors I seem to gravitate towards. One of these authors happens to be Mitch Albom. Very recently, I read, perhaps lived in, one of Mr. Albom’s books, “The Little Liar.”
The narrator of “The Little Liar” was Truth. Yes, Truth!
In this book, a young boy never told a lie. His family and friends all knew the boy always told the truth. So, when he did lie, they were certain it was the truth.
It wasn’t!
I was so moved by the characters in this book, I felt compelled to take pen-to-paper and write this poem in remembrance of all those who suffered the indignities lies thrust upon them.
He lied
He did not know he lied
He was assured everyone would be
happy
They weren’t
He did not know he lied
He never lied
He was a friend of Truth
He loved Truth
He trusted Truth
He was young
He was naïve
He did not know he lied
And then
He knew
It was all a lie
He knew he lied
Truth knew
All along
Truth could not save him
He tried
The boy forgot Truth
The boy became a man
He left Truth behind
The man suffered
He always lied
He could not help himself
Lying became his refuge
It was his safe place
Until it wasn’t
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