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There are no longer any cultural or societal penalties for lying, unless you happen to be on the wrong side of some thing or another, and even then.

I have long (perhaps dinosaur-long) been and am an advocate of a handshake and a man’s word. If I give my word that I will do something, I will either do it, or fail after a fully engaged attempt. It is much the same with the spoken word. If I tell someone something, I try with all my might to be straightforward and honest, even it it might offend the person or weaken their view of me.

I have history with this concept of truth, and it was late in my life.

I did something about ten years ago (so, late in life, not a young person) so foolhardy, stupid, and embarrassing that I lied to everyone about it. Everyone. Even my wife. The only one who knew the truth about it was my best friend because he was there when I did it, and I asked him-ASKED HIM-to lie about it. Which he did, because I asked him. He would do anything for me, and I for him. He is that kind of guy.

However, as time went on, this ate at my insides. It began to eat me from the inside out, and I realized that there was nothing so embarrassing and stupid that could cause anywhere near the psychological damage to me that asking my best friend to lie for me was causing.

I ended up having to come clean with everyone, the equivalent of wearing it around my neck. Anyone who I have ever spoken to about the incident, I had to force myself to tell them the truth, un-prompted. And it wasn’t because I was worried they might find out I lied about this thing from another person. It was because that angst that forcing my best friend to lie on my behalf was mirrored in everyone who I lied to about this incident.

I had no concept of the psychological corrosion that asking someone I love and treasure to lie for me would cause. It never even occurred to me at that point in time. It seemed minor. But as time passed, it ate at me as surely as any acid would.

The point of all of this is: I feel like a dinosaur. Lying seems to be the coin of the realm now. People even lie under oath, everyone KNOWS they lie under oath, and the only ones who ever pay for doing it pay due to a political vendetta, not because they violated the biblical or legal norms of lying under oath.

It is as if nobody even cares anymore. If someone lies, it doesn’t seem to leave any stain on some people.

There is something I find completely disorienting, alienating, and disillusioning about this.