Falsehood and Deceit . . .
This life is really so confusing! As much as there are moral standards set either by man or nature, there is always this claim by some defaulters of why they are right in their wrongful deeds. Sometimes, they cry even the most, that someone could truly think they are the ones who have been offended. The world is indeed incomprehensible. Man is complicated and his ways a contradiction. Justice which would have been “one jacket fit all” kind of offer, is itself selective and even relative. “Because I’m involved” is one of the reasons evil thrives so well in our society these days. We draw lines and make rules only when we are not in the circumstance. It has turned a case where the law maker is not binded by his own rules, where those who are favoured by the law are exempted from it.
There was a time when the society came together to expose the evil people amongst us, when criminals were not spared! When parents wouldn’t hesitate to bring out their wards for wrong doings, and saw to it that they were punished or reprimanded for what they did wrong. But today, we aid and abet criminals, we encourage their wrong doings on the account of one sentiment or another. Hypocrisy is written all over our ways. We have become the “do as I say and not as I do” kind of people expecting from others what we can’t dare to give. Even our personal relationships are not spared from our uncouth practices where lies and pretense have become the real bane of our problems because we have chosen to be hypocritic about the realness of our lives, doing one thing in fornt of people and another behind them. How has that ever helped anybody? Is there anything at all that remains a secret forever?
There was a time when truth was revered, when it was important to build on it because it kept us safe from the disaster that lies always creates at the end of the day, when it drags our intergrity and character to question and our personality through the mud, casting doubts and exceeding feeling of pain and betrayal to the one who would eventually find out they were lied to by their partners or friends or relations or associates or leaders or even colleagues at workplaces or whoever they might actually turn out to be. In other words, a wrong deed is an unpleasant activity which when not properly addressed is capable of ruining an entire life’s work or trust or even plan. That is to say, if we must move forward in that dreamed society,
relationship, partnership, and the rest of what we hold dear, crave and desire, we should be able to act now on our indulgences and lies, we should be able to face our realities and tell the truth even if “we are involved”.
We seem to be where we are today because we gave up a huge part of our morality a long time ago. Right from the grassroot to the top, we condone all kinds of evils and corruption even the gods are now collecting bribes and testifying against the innocent, of course falsehood is now a rewarding trend. In fact, for many, it’s a profession that pays their bills. How shameful does it feel to be discovered or uncovered on the account of lies told or secrets held?
It baffles me how we can lie even to ourselves as though life is magic. Life is a process that has protocols, even though it does not have an operating manual like a machine. Neither are all life’s experiences the same but some of the things mostly or commonly agreed upon are either by heritage or ethics, one of which is, a society’s moral values, norms or standards. In other words, there is always an acceptable way of living in each society like ours . . . It’s more or less like guidelines meant to shapen our character and behavioural patterns in order to maintain orderliness and restrain people from being harmful to themselves and others by prohibiting and forbidding certain actions, ways or activities that might contradict the laws of that particular habitation called “society”. When laws are broken, it becomes an offence whether by tradition or by standards, it is punishable. This act of bringing the offender to book is first to deter others of committing the same offence. Secondly, it is to emphasise the unacceptability of certain actions, ways or behaviours against the society and its people in general. Allowing people get away with so much evils especially these days, is the very reason most societies like ours are in great dysfunction. . . Come to think of it, It’s funny how we went from supporting good deeds to supporting wrong deeds, else, how do you explain the prejudice behind certain comments or contributions proffered sometimes by elder statesmen, spiritual leaders or traditional rulers who by every standards should be able to say the truth no matter who is involved or what side is involved. We cry for one indivisible Nigeria yet our ways and activities scream otherwise!!!
If there is truly one thing I have undoubtably agreed with the president on, it’s the fact that “change begins with everyone of us”. It means that until we banish hypocrisy, ethnicism, sectionalism, favouritism falsehood, deceit and other vices, the society we dream to have will always only exist in our dreams and imaginations.
