Day 49: Why do we lie

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 49: Why do we lie

If you’re like most people, you can’t really function without your morning cup of coffee. I’m no different. When I get to work, I switch on my computer, unpack my bag, and then go down to Tim Hortons for a double-double and a croissant.

I was standing in line behind a woman with a baby in a stroller. When two other women joined the line one of them purred “Oh what a cute baby.” The women got into a bit of a conversation ... what is the baby’s name? How old is she? Etc.

When the woman with the baby left the two women behind me started whispering among themselves. “Did you see that kid? That baby had the nose of a pig. And did you see that rash? OMG, I wonder what that was all about.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. Moments earlier that had complimented the woman on her beautiful baby, and now they were criticizing it left, right and center.

I find in general, people are just saying what the other person wants to hear. For instance ...

Yesterday, a woman posted a picture of herself with her new hairdo. The caption read ‘My new do for my upcoming birthday.’ The picture was horrible. It showed a woman, clearly in her 50s with dark lank hair hanging well below her breasts.

There were a string of compliments from her friends and I thought ... are these people blind? I also wondered what the really thought. Did they really mean that she looked beautiful, or did they think that she look in a mirror and rethink her do?

Well-meaning, I passed on a piece of advice that a stylist had given me many years ago. He stated that women of a certain age shouldn’t wear their hair long, it makes them look old and tired.

To prove his point, he showed me some before and after pictures of women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. 

The transformation was astonishing. With long hair, these women looked indeed tired, while with a shorter do they looked fresh and years younger.

When I repeated the stylist’s comment to the women, I was criticized and called a bitch. Strange, I thought. When the stylist said this to me, I wasn’t offended. Why is it so hard for people to accept the truth? And why do some people lie?

While I like long hair as much as the next person, take a look around you. Look at the women with long hair and the women with short hairstyles. The women with short styles invariably come up tops. They look younger than their years, fresh, and sophisticated.

My comment to the soon birthday women wasn’t meant to be mean, but rather as honest and realistic.

Unfortunately, all too often I see false flattering comments. The other day I saw an overweight woman in a skin-tight, cream-colored bodysuit. It clung to her every curve and gave the impression that she was naked. Her friends told her how sexy she looked. Sexy? She was by no stretch of the imagination sexy, from behind it looked two piglets were having a fight in her pants.

Then there are those women who think that a bra is a luxury item. They go out in the flimsiest of tops, with boobs that look like their doing the foxtrot underneath the top. Going braless might be fine for women under 30, with an A cup bra size, but anyone on the other side of 30, with a B size or more, should really wear something supporting when going out.  

When everyone compliments each other, how will we know what is the truth and what is a lie?