My eight years of lying
It was a nice summer’s day back in 1988 and I’d spent the afternoon playing in our garden with my friend Ian Smart. As you do when you’re ten years old, you end up playing with endless games and - of course - not putting them away afterwards. And so there were cricket bats, footballs, and all sorts of other remnants from our afternoon of fun left strewn over the garden.
A few hours later, after Ian had gone and I’d eaten my tea, it started to rain. Mum very quickly told me to get outside at once and clear everything up. “But don’t go on the rope slide,” she added. Now the ropeslide was something we’d set up from our treehouse down to another tree about 20 metres away. We used to throw an old towel over it, hold on for dear life, and slide down. It was lots of fun! The only problem was that we were now band from using it as the August before a family friend had fallen off and broken both his wrists.
To be honest, I’d had no intention of going on the rope slide until mum said that I couldn’t. But suddenly I knew I was going to go on the rope slide. So I cleared up all the equipment before climbing up to the tree house. It was a bit slippy because of the rain, but nothing to worry about really. I reached the top and then sat on the edge and put the towel around the rope. And then I jumped. But my hands failed to grip the towel properly and I went plummeting straight to the ground, landing heavily with all my weight on my left arm.
I was in agony. The pain in my left elbow was horrendous and I couldn’t bend it at all. But here’s the thing. I didn’t make a sound. I didn’t scream. I didn’t call for help. Instead I slowly crawled accross the garden towards the goal net we had. In my mind I was busy creating the story I would tell my parents. There was no way I was going to admit that I’d disobeyed mum and gone on the rope slide. I was going to tell them that I’d tripped over the goal net. And it wasn’t until I reached the goal net that I started to scream.
Mum and dad came running and I told them how I’d been running but had tripped over the goal net. They rushed me straight to hospital as it was clear my arm was not at the right angle. And it turned out that I had dislocated my elbow. It took several months before I could fully straighten out my arm again.
And the story I’d told held sway for years. Eight years in fact. Every time it would come up, we’d always talk about how I’d dislocated my elbow tripping over a goal net. That’s what all my extended family knew and all our family friends too. The story was told so often that I nearly came to believe myself that that was what actually happened!
It wasn’t until my eighteenth birthday that I decided to set the record straight. In our family we always make a big thing of the 18th birthday and have lots of family and friends and we each have to give a proper speech. And it was this speech that I chose as my moment to reveal all. So I told the story of what really happened. And how everyone laughed! There may be some things that are worth lying about, but this surely wasn’t one of them!
What about you? What are the biggest lies you’ve ever told?
technorati tags: the future now, stories, lying, childhood
July 5th, 2006 at 5:01 pm
I was the one who put gum on my mom and dad’s bed…not my brother..there I said it!
I never got away with lies, I am horrible at lying…can’t keep a straight face. But I got away with this one…and my brother got a sound whipping…and I never wanted to lie to my parents again. I don’t know what was worse…the guilt of getting away with it…or that my brother took the blame for me and never turned me in.
I always feel guilty when telling a lie…if I wasn’t sick when I called it in at work I surely was afterwards!
So you say, there are things worth lying about….what do you think would fall under that category?
July 5th, 2006 at 6:05 pm
Hi Sam,
sorry to hijack this post…but obahsomah told me to!
I was wanting to put a different header picture on my blog, but I am not sure how. obahsomah told me you are the man. So, how do I put my own jpg up there?
thanks in advance…
jeffy
July 5th, 2006 at 6:42 pm
Hey Deana. I’ve actually had brewing from a number of years now a talk I’d love give entitled something along the lines of “when it’s ok to lie”! I’ve copied in a few verses from Joshua chapter 2 below where Rahab blantantly lies. And she goes on to be celebrated for this act of protecting the spies (by lying) through the rest of the Scriptures, making it into the Geneology of Christ and the giants of faith in the book of Hebrews. She is there because she lied! It makes you think doesn’t it?!
1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”
4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) 7 So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.
July 5th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
As a young girl, I lived all over the U.S.: Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, California, Washington, Pennsylvania and so on and so on. By the time I was 8, I had already been to 6 different schools. Our latest move was to North Bend, Oregon; a beautiful, harbor town that sat on the coast. This tiny town didn’t get a lot of new people often so my first day of school was quite a big thing! In my wee little brain I somehow came up with the plan to speak with an English accent! Thinking about it now just kills me! For three weeks I spoke some mixed up English dialect: a cross between a cockney basket girl and a Texan! (At the age of eight, I hadn’t quite perfected my Benny Hill impersonation!)
Eventually, however, the kids started to get suspicious and began asking me where I was from. I tried avoiding the question, but one day a group of girls approached me as I hung upside down on the monkey bars. “We want to know why you talk funny! Are you from another country or something?” And out of nowhere I boldly claimed, “I’m from Spain!” I had them all fooled that morning recess, but my exotic intrigue was soon dismantled as word spread and eventually reached my teacher, Mrs. Trabillo. She wasn’t accusatory, nor was she upset. She simply told me to be myself and be proud of who I am.
So there you have it! Three weeks. The biggest and most outrageous lie I ever told lasted three weeks in the third grade.
July 5th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
Sue…that sounds like a children’s book there!
Sam…Record your talk…I’d love to hear it. I think it would make a great podcast!!!!
July 5th, 2006 at 8:39 pm
oooh that does get one thinking… when is it right to lie. Sign me up for the podcast as well if you do put it together, I’d like to… ummm borrow… some of it. Giving full credit of course
July 5th, 2006 at 9:07 pm
I’ll admit - I’m as immature as they come. but I can’t stop myself - I would pay good money to hear Sam say “sent two spies from Shittim” in his beautiful Kings English….
as for lying, I was told in my early 20’s that the man who is my father was not likely my biological father - I can only imagine there are “lies” that we carry unknowingly our whole lives..
July 7th, 2006 at 7:39 pm
I like the knew look. But are those elephants fighting or kissing? Maybe they’re saying hellp in the French manner. Are there French elephants? Maybe in Senegal or Cote d’Ivoire?
July 7th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
Sorry I meant to type “saying hello”
July 7th, 2006 at 8:26 pm
Jeffy - the feature to be able to upload your own header image is not yet available. It is something we’re working on though and hope to have available soon.
Sue - thanks for sharing…great story.
Brian - thanks for stopping by…feel free to steal away!
Heath - I’ll try and make sure I say it as best as I can if I do the podcast!
Mel - It was two male teenage elephants who were fighting. We were right there…amazing to see.
August 10th, 2006 at 7:41 am
Me, I never lie (let’s see how long that one lasts). I have a simular story only involving neighbors with horses, a shetland pony and a trip to get my right arm set and put in a cast…