To tell the Truth. . .

"When a woman tells the truth she is creating the possibility for more truth around her." --Adrienne Rich

Do you always tell the truth? C'mon, 'fess up. I suspect about half the time in our lives we tell other people not what we really think, but what we think they want to hear. We flatter the boss even when we think he/she is an idiot, we tell the significant other we do like his tie, or that she doesn't look fat in that dress. We tell the spouse that we did something that we meant to do, need to do, even when we haven't done it yet. And we tell the kids it won't hurt when it will, it is good for you when it may or may not be, and that there is a tooth fairy, an Easter bunny, a Santa Claus, and a Happy Ever After. Lies? Or convenient untruths?

Eddie Izzard, one of my favorite comedians talks about lies and says there ought to be levels, or degrees, of perjury like there are degrees of murder or any other crime:

"You have murder one, murder two; you realize that there can be a difference in the level of murder, so there must be a difference in the level of perjury. Perjury one is when you're saying there's no Holocaust when 10 million people have died in it, and perjury... nine, is when you said you shagged someone when you didn't." (from Tea and Cake or Death)

Here the lie that really sucks, saying: I love you, I care about you, or even I want you... when you really don't.  That's Premeditated Perjury.