Lying and Trust

Many of us know them; people that have their own way of expressing their beliefs about a certain event that may have taken place. You know the ones; many of them may be close friends or family. The people that can be asked a direct question but for some unknown reason, cannot give a straight answer, no matter what. You may find that they bend, stretch or distort the truth about every question they are asked. Some of you may accept these answers as true, but I believe that a question answered without known details or presented in such a way as to deliberately mislead, deceive or misrepresent is nothing short of lying. This kind of lying; I believe; is referred to as “lying by omission.”

I have had several, not so well received experiences recently. My first example occurred several weeks ago. A close friend of many years confided in me about his most recent doctor’s visit. After a distraught emotional delivery of “the facts” regarding his doctor’s visit, I was lead to believe that his stomach cancer diagnosis was something new. Only to find out later that it was something that had been going on for the last three years. His deliberate misrepresentations, by omission of facts, lead me to believe that his condition was beyond his control. When in fact his condition then as now was quite manageable and well within means of his control. In omitting key facts regarding his diagnosis, he was able to present a picture of reality that was untrue and