When it’s Okay to Lie
psst, for adult eyes only…
If you are the talk-to-people-in-elevators-type, ask some random strangers this question, and then record your answer. No really. The next time you are standing in line, staring at the sensationalist journalism covering the sordid lifestyles of the stars, ask the guy or gal in front of you when it’s okay to lie and think about their answer.
Now keep in mind the only reason you will be asking this question is because your hands are too full with pre-packed holiday gifts to be playing with your phone, but ‘tis the season, so here’s something to ponder. Now, most adults and nearly all children would agree that it’s not okay to lie, and there will even be some who say in fact that it is NEVER okay to lie. Barring extreme circumstances that may have been covered in that Philosophy class you had to take as a pre-requisite in college, lying is bad and wrong, and it doesn’t matter why. We feel this is so, we teach that it’s true, and mostly, most of us try and live by this advice at least most of the time, but then Dec 1st hits, and suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, it’s okay to lie. Now before you drop your roll of wrapping paper and take up arms (the scissors), let us explain what we mean.
The big man, Santa Claus, Kris Kringle, Saint Nicholas, Pelznickel or Sinterklaas, he’s everywhere this time of year. He’s in ads, on the radio, he’s on social media, dishtowels, gloves, hats, holiday décor and more. He flies in on a plane, he rides in on a firetruck, he hangs out at the mall, he even goes to grocery stores. He takes pictures with your kids, they sit in his lap and tell him secrets only you know, and coerces your children into behaving the whole year through.
And he doesn’t exist!
That’s right, he doesn’t even exist. You know it, I know it. Yet every year, you will look your children straight in the eye, and lie. You will tell them Santa lives in the most inhospitable place on earth. You’ll tell them that Reindeer like to eat candy canes. You’ll take a bite out of those cookies you left out on that plate, and take a swig of 2% too. When your big-eyed child asks you how Santa can slide down your chimney, or how he can shimmy his way through your ventilation system if you don’t have one, you lie. You lie like a rug, every time.
And when inevitably your child comes to the conclusion that you were full of reindeer dung the whole time, you will gladly incorporate them into your subterfuge with a twinkle your eye, and lie to the even littler ones. And so on and on this wholesome act of surreptitious merrymaking goes, with little to no ramifications for your mistruths and straight-up fabrications. Here’s that lovely little circumstance, that one ordained time, where it’s not just okay to lie, it’s preferable. This little lie about a big man, known the world over and known for hundreds of years too, is one of the most okay-est of lies, because this is a lie that not only services the recipient but the teller too.
The world is a little better place because of this lie. For it gives us the time to help our little ones, or nieces and nephews, or students write that letter to Santa. It gives us something to bake for, something to hold our breath in anticipation for, and it makes the world a little bigger, better place for all of us, just to know that someone is keeping an eye on us, and wants what’s best for us. Someone knows our name, and knows our heart’s desire, and is willing to fly across the world all in one night, to deliver us that package while we are snug in our beds, warm and tight.
So here’s to the Holidays, and keeping the lie alive! We believe, and we hope you believe too.
From all of us at Peppershock Media, Happy Holidays, and a Merry Christmas!
