Truth hurts once, lie hurts forever

The universe was built on the pattern of opposites. We will never have a complete idea of the universe and its beauty, complexity, shades, and depth if we ignore the pattern. One of the patterns although moving in the North-South direction is Truth and Lie. We cannot comprehend truth in its entirety unless we understand what the lie is. As if we have no idea of disorder we can not talk about order or if we are confused about ugliness, we cannot appreciate beauty in its true sense.

Truth is difficult to speak and listen to, so, generally, we prefer to listen to what is not true. Personally, professionally, traditionally, we like to exaggerate everything, exaggeration is where lie resides. Truth is crisp, short, concise, without any add-ons. Truth demands honesty, straightforwardness, bluntness, not a lot of people fancy that. The person who always speaks the truth will have fewer likes than the person who is prone to tell a lie – favorable to the family, friends, and colleagues. Truth is a surgeon who has to perform a dissection without having any mercy for the patient because if he shows mercy, he cannot save the life of the patient. On the other hand, lying is like a beauty parlor which has to present its skill while covering the flaws in the person and present before others what they are not.

“Truth may hurt for a little while but lying hurts forever”. If you speak the truth, it will become a part of your past but if you lie it becomes a part of your future.” So, the choice is yours – past or future. Live with a conscience prick while speaking lies or live like a free bird who soars high because of the light weight it has had. Lie is a weight which hinders your flight to the highest skies. Truth becomes past, sooner or later, but lies never leave you unattended, it keeps you haunted, fearing its exposure one goes on creating new ones just to cover the earliest one.

We lie just to please others, pleasing others is a never-ending gyre and then one fine morning you find yourself in the quagmire of lies, and its tentacles have scratched all of your body, spilling blood, and are eating you away like a zombie.

If a person goes on speaking the truth, Allah writes his name in the truthful, and announces his name among the angels then the angels announce his name as a truthful person in the heart of the people so he becomes famous for his truth, people believe in whatever he says or does but if a person becomes habitual of speaking lies, Allah writes his name among the liars and announces his name among the angels as a liar who then declare him as such. People start disbelieving whatever he says or does.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَكُونُوا مَعَ الصَّادِقِينَ

O you who believe! be careful of (your duty to) Allah and be with the true ones. (Surah Tawbah 9:119)

Truth is a hallmark of great leaders and an attribute whose dividends one can never fathom while lie is a liability which remains hanging over the head and becomes a permanent burden on one’s conscience.

The prophets of Allah, great leaders, who carved a permanent niche in the heart and minds of the posterity followed the righteous path of truth and led the nation to their destinations.

We should strive to speak the truth but the truth which may put a match to hostilities among people may be avoided. In such circumstances “silence is golden” is the best rule to follow. Lying to curry favor or to make people laugh should always be avoided. You cannot always make people happy or have their enduring favor with your habit of lying as these are prone to be exposed and one loses respect forever.

Practicing truth will ultimately, although slowly earn you respect while lying will fetch ephemeral respect and love which fades away as truth is bound to surface soon. So set your eyes on a permanent and lasting goal of telling truth and respect rather instant and fleeting praise earned by telling concocted and bizarre truths.