Blog 1918 – 12.25.2020

A Big Fat Enormous Lie

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A Big Fat Enormous Lie

We live sadly in a world where lies are seldom confessed especially by those who use lies to deceive us. Even George Washington of whom the youthful legend persists that he could not tell a lie and Honest Abe Lincoln who is reported to have walked several miles to bring the correct change back to a customer that he had shorted in the store he clerked at, told lies. We all lie, the biggest fattest most enormous lie of all is the one we try to deny and are not willing to own up to. Well, my weakness, my fondest for dangling preposition I cannot lie about as the last sentence testifies.

Today’s story deals with a little lie that grew and grew till it was so enormous that a little cookie eater had to confess it to get it’s heavy weight off his chest. Politicians these days think it terrible to be forced to admit a mistake or a lie. So much of what we believe is based on lies, propaganda, it can be hard sometimes to deduce the truth.

This day that many celebrate as Jesus’ birthday is highly unlikely that. When Christianity was declared the state religion of the Roman Empire the names of pagan holidays were changed to reflect the new faith. Saturnalia, a celebration of the god Saturn, the god of agriculture, had its name changed to Christmas.

Holy days, holidays, special days, are some things us little folk look forward to so we can take a break from work and the regular routines to make merry with our families and friends. Some lies are more hurtful than others. We are told that the truth will indeed set us free.

I believe that the biggest fattest lie of all is to try to fool ourself and others into thinking that our poop does not stink and that we have never ever told a lie or ever ever will again. The real Jesus revealed in the Gospel stories in the Bible did not have such a big problem with liars, he knew we all lie, in fact there are several recorded personal conversations where he knew the other person was lying and did not call them out about it. Jesus biggest problem with people was hypocrisy, pretending they were something they were not.

Ebenezer Scrooge in The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens was visited by three ghosts trying to get him to own up to the lie that had deformed his life – gold is more important than people. George Bailey in another Christmas story, It’s A Wonderful Life, was visited by one apprentice angel, Clarence, whose assignment was to prevent George from taking his own life. George in complaining to Clarence after the angel jumped off the bridge ahead of him knowing George would forget suicide and instead try to rescue a stranger, said it would have been better if he had never been born. Clarence hearing his words got permission from the higher ups to give George a glimpse of what his world would look like without him in it. It was a big fat enormous lie that the world would have been better off if George had never been born. The story of his life alone has changed and made better countless other lives.

We are all pebbles cast into the sea and the ripples of our lives may not result in all lies ceasing nor any holiday day names being changed but the truth always makes a difference in the lives of not only ourselves but others.

Whatever name you use to call today, I wish you a joyous, happy, and merry one, and that’s the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, as the Rugrat cartoon kids say, “So help me Bob.”

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White

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Merry Christmas, Darling