Lies - A temporary escape from reality

Humans are imperfect creatures capable of making mistakes that are necessary for growth and development after learning from previous errors. The art of lying is a behavior a vast number of the human populace possess even though it is often perceived as a negative trait. To some people it is a defense mechanism to avoid uncomfortable situations and to others, a way of life abused for the detriment of other people. Lying is not just the opposite of telling the truth, it is an ancient technique that has been a part of man since his very conception and till this very day, it is extremely difficult to ascertain if lying is a part of human nature or simply just a learned character. As ridiculous as this might sound, there is not a single human on the planet that can say they haven't told lies since birth without either sounding stupid or lying already. This just goes to show how deep rooted lying is in human society.

According to Meta AI there are primarily seven types of lies namely:

1. ‌white lies
2. ‌exaggeration
3. ‌omission
4. ‌fabrication
5. ‌deception
6. ‌pathological and
7. ‌altrusive lies.
   These seven listed above are not the only forms that lies come in but they represent the most common. Each is used in distinct cases and detailed explanations are necessary for all but due to the limitations of this study, further emphasis will only be placed on omission.

A lie of omission is a type of lie in which a person does not release the entire information with the intention of manipulating the story to fit his or her narrative. The perpetrator of this type of lie usually indulges in it with the shallow notion of sparing the feelings of their victims only to end up putting them in a worse state than they have ever been. In my opinion the events that take place after providing limited information are usually catastrophic and the victims end up feeling used and deceived. If you have ever been a victim of it, you'd realize that this version of lie has to be one of the worst as it preaches false hope only to trample on it at the worst possible moment.

A friend of mine was posted to a school after staying in camp for three weeks. After she reported to the secretariat for documentation, the proprietor of the school came over to get acquainted with his new employees and also discuss their working conditions. He asked them to follow him to his car to show them where he lived since they'll be staying with him for a couple days before resumption. Stella (my friend) asked for the location of the school and the state of the accommodation he was providing but his response was "everything's fine and they'll get to see it when school resumes".

Two days before school officially resumed, the school owner took the girls to the school location just to show them around. The next part was where everything went south. When he took the girls to their new homes, they all burst into tears. The place was an isolated environment close to a river that seemed like it would flood the entire building at the next downpour, the bathroom was unhygienic for the ladies and from the lodge to the closest store was over two thousand naira. To top it all up, the man had already signed on their acceptance letters meaning there was close to nothing they could do to fix their problems. Stella is just one decision away from forfeiting her service year as the entire problem feels like a nightmare she needs to wake up from. All this heartache would have been easily avoided if the man had been straight with them from the very beginning.

Till this very day I still see omission as the worst version of lying because of the consequences that follows after. Don't get me wrong, there have been times people have lied to save lives but if it'll be in an extreme form where the other person feels devastated afterwards, it is best we keep it as far away as humanly possible. Nobody wants to be hurt so why do we hurt others. Let us all be mindful of other people's feelings.
Thank you.
All images are mine