THE LITTLE WHITE LIE

I got to thinking about the generally accepted notion that this country runs on oil. While it is a fact that it takes a lot of oil to keep us running it is definitely not the most important thing, no sireee, not by a long shot. That is just plain brainwashing scuttlebutt foisted upon an unsuspecting public and to create an illusion. The plain old fashioned truth of the matter just happens to be that this nation actually and literally runs on something other than oil. It is commonly referred to as the little white lie!

Little white lies like greeting your neighbor with "Good morning Mrs. Smith, you look great. My, that is a lovely dress!" when it actually looks like she got the rag at a rummage sale.

Or, "Honey, I think you are the prettiest girl in the whole wide world," expressed, of course, in the heat of the moment!

Try this! "I swear sugar, I didn’t even notice that woman," as the perfect thirty-six, twenty-two, thirty-six redhead walked by, swaying and wiggling like a fresh caught rainbow trout.

On the phone, "Reverend, I just couldn’t make it this morning. Sorry, I must be coming down with the flu." While nursing the worst hangover ever.

Then, "Thanks for coming by, we really enjoyed your visit." Secretly thinking, "I can’t stand those people!"

You get my drift!

Just think for a moment. There is absolutely and positively no way we could run this country or conduct our lives in a civilized manner without those little white lies. No way!

Let us take a moment to analyze this situation. Suppose we use a sliding shaded scale to measure a lie. We go from black, to gray, to white. Black of course, representing a bald faced premeditated untruth designed for the sole purpose to deceive or cause harm. Thus, graduating through the gray areas to white, representing a trifling fib used in a conventional manner with absolutely no malice or deceit intended. More or less, a form of common courtesy. Logically speaking, you are now ranging from an absolute sinful taboo to an absolute beneficial necessity. At some point down this scale from black to white, the end actually justifies the means. Never and I do mean never, slide down into the pure white ….the absolute truth!

Let us suppose that all of us slipped into the white zone and told the absolute truth….just for on day. The whole nation would wind up in utter chaos. The divorce courts would be filled with domestic malcontents except the ones that went directly to the funeral parlor.

Your best friend would grow a set of horns, a forked tale and carry a pitchfork. We would wind up despising our banker, our pastor, our teacher, our candle stick maker and especially our in-laws! With all the mayhem and madness business as we know it would come to a screeching halt. The oil companies would, in fact, run out of oil!

There is no doubt about it! We could exist without oil, but lets fact it, there is no way we could possibly exist without the little white lie.

That is the plain absolute unvarnished truth!