My father used to tell me that there is no amount of sickness that will reduce the size of an elephant to that of a goat. And he will go on to explain that there is no amount of lies that will turn it into truth. Forget all the arguments some professionals are making. Have you imagined why people prefer lies to truth? One of the best things of life is to go to bed and sleep peacefully. And do you know something; the only way to achieve that is if you have a clear conscience. Tell me, how can you have a clear conscience if you keep telling lies? Some of us think that we must tell lies once in a while to save our head and if possible our name. It was Adebayo Williams who observed: “The pursuit of truth is a full time career. Those who opt for it may suffer pains and persecution, but they live in the hearts of their follow citizens forever.” I’ve never seen, heard or read about any individual in any part of the world being charged any amount of money for telling the truth. So, if is free, why do people indulge in lies? I remember a story about a woman who in preparation for a party, stopped by a small butcher shop to buy meat for the meal. She had decided to stuff and roast a chicken as the main course. When she asked the man at the meat counter for the largest chicken he had, he reached into the cold storage compartment, grabbed the last chicken he had, and placed it on the scale. “This one weighs four pounds, madam,” he said.
The woman thought for a moment and then said, “I’m not sure that will be enough. Don’t you have a bigger one?”
The attendant put the chicken back into the compart- ment, pretended to search through the melting ice for another bird, and then brought out the same chicken. This time, when he weighed it on the scale, he discreetly applied some finger pressure to the scale. “Ah,” he said with a smile, “this one weighs six pounds.”
The woman frowned, and making some mental calculations, brightened as she said, “I’m just not sure. I’ll tell you what, wrap them both up for me!” Now imagine what will happen when the customer discovers the truth. Remember, fire can be concealed, not smoke.
One thing I have come to observe is that when we tell lies to get out of trouble, we end up getting into a bigger trouble. Imagine the story of four high school boys who on a sunny day couldn’t resist the temptation to skip classes. The next morning they explained to a teacher that they had missed her class, because their car had a flat tyre. To their relief, she smiled and said, “Well, you missed the quiz yesterday, so take your seats and get out a pencil and paper.” She waited as they sat down and got ready for the quiz. Then she said, “First question: Which tyre was flat?” T. L. Osborn advised, “Always tell the truth and you never have to remember what you said.”
There are cases when lying has robbed us of wonderful opportunities. I remember the story of a loyal carpenter who worked nearly two decades for a very successful contractor. The contractor called him into his office one day and said, “I’m putting you in charge of the next house we build. I want you to order all the materials and oversee the job from the ground up.” The carpenter accepted the assignment with great enthusiasm. He studied the blueprints, checked every measurement and specification. Suddenly, he had a thought, if l am really in charge, why couldn’t l cut a few corners, use less expensive materials, and put the extra money in my pocket? Who will know? Once the house is painted, it will look great.
So, he set about his scheme. He ordered second-grade lumber and in-expensive concrete, put in cheap wiring, and cut every corner he could. When the home was finished, the contractor came to see it. “What a fine job you have done!” he said. “You have been such a faithful carpenter to me all these years that l have decided to show you my gratitude by giving to you as a gift this very house which you have built.” Tell me who loses? It was the late Dele Giwa who said, “I will rather die than fail to tell the truth and sell my conscience.”
There are times we lie in an attempt to impress others. A young attorney, just out of law school and beginning his first day on the job, sat down on the comfort of his brand-new office with a great sigh of satisfaction. He had worked long and hard to savor such a moment. Then, noticing a prospective client coming towards his door, he began to look very energetic. Opening his legal pad and uncapping his pen, he picked up the telephone, and cradling it under his chin, he began to write furiously as he said, “Look, Abdul, about that amalgamation deal, I think I better run down to the factory and handle it personally. Yes. No. I don’t think three million naira will swing it. We better have Tunde from Ibadan meet us there. Ok. Call you back later.”
Hanging up the phone, he put down his pen, looked up at his visitor, stood, extended his hand, and said in his most polite but confident lawyer voice, “Good morning. And how might I help you?”
The prospective client replied, “Actually, I’m just here to hook up your phone.” The phone actually was not working. According to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.”
Telling the truth always is something we can form as a habit. And it’s very simple. Science has revealed that whatever a man does consistently for twenty-one days becomes a part of him. It then means that if you decide from today to tell the truth consistently for the next twenty-one days, it will become a part of you. And you have a lot to gain from it. This country and the world at large stand to gain if we pass on this virtue to our children. The story is told about a 12-year-old boy who was a key witness in a lawsuit. One of the lawyers, after intense questioning asked, “Your father told you what to say, didn’t he?”
“Yes,” answered the boy.
“Now tell us,” pursued the lawyer, “What were his instructions?”
“Well,” replied the boy, “Father told me the lawyers would try to tangle me in my testimony; but if l would just be careful and tell the truth, l could say the same thing every time.” Joan Welsh once remarked, “If you continue to do what’s right, what’s wrong and who’s wrong will eventually leave your life.”
We may not know it, but there are times the truths we’ve told over the years have saved us from trouble and embarrassment. I remember the story of a man who each morning stops to pick up the early edition of the newspaper at a small shop. One morning when he got to work, he discovered that by mistake he had taken two newspapers instead of one. He first thought of paying the man the extra price the next morning, but then after a moment’s consideration he said, “I had better go back with this paper. I don’t want the man at the shop to think I’m dishonest.” He got in his car, drove back to the store, and returned the paper.
About a week later, someone stole money from the shop. When police pinpointed the time it occurred, the shop owner remembered only two people being in the shop at the time and one was the man that had returned a newspaper the previous week. The shop owner immediately dismissed him as a suspect, saying, “That man is really honest. He came all the way back here just to return a newspaper he took by mistake.” The police then focused their investigation on the other man, who soon made a full confession.
Dear reader, you will at this juncture agree with me that truth is one of the best things of life. And to know that it’s free makes it sweeter. Let me ask you, does anybody on this planet have more access to truth than you? No matter the amount of money anybody may have, truth is available to all and sundry.
This is the time for change. If you have been telling lies and it has not gotten you anywhere, why not retreat and try telling the truth. I assure you, it will not disappoint you. It’s only an insane person that will do one particular thing over and over again and then expect a different result. It was Albert Einstein, the man regarded by Time magazine as the most influential person in the twentieth century that said, “The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”
My father will always say the tree that cannot shed its old leaves in the dry season, cannot survive the period of drought. You can tell lies to deceive people, but you can never run away from the man dwelling inside of you. He will always be there to make you uncomfortable.
The key is in your hand. Use it!
NB: First published November 2013