"Lying is a Universal Truth??" WHAT???!!

The other day, I came across a bumper sticker saying that "Lying is a Universal Truth" and I found it quite humorous, and because of it's serious contradiction, I just had to write about it. It's funny how it's so true- that everyone in this universe lies. Even if we try not to, it just happens. Sometimes the lie is not even a big one and we still end up feeling as though we have to say it. Even though I lie as well, this bumper sticker made me realize how much a sin can take over the universe's opinion, and go as far as making it a truth. It may not be the only truth in this world, but after thinking about it some more I see that even if it's not the only truth out there, the fact that lying is one of them is big enough for me. Lying and telling the truth are at different ends of the spectrum which is what makes it so contradicting. Even the nicest, most honest people have told a lie at least one time in their lives. I couldn't understand why this bumper sticker stuck with me and then I realized that it's because I never took the time to realize my own faults. I realize that lying is really hard not to do. I mean we should definitely try to not lie, and although this task might seem impossible, we can at least try to make it less of a habit. In Mark Twain's, "On the Decay of the Art of Lying," he says "An habitual truth-teller is simply an impossible creature; he does not exist; he never has existed. Of course there are people who think they never lie, but it is not so,--and this ignorance is one of the very things that shame our so-called civilization. Everybody lies--every day; every hour; awake; asleep; in his dreams; in his joy; in his mourning; if he keeps his tongue still, his hands, his foes, his eyes, his attitude, will convey deception--and purposely." I totally agree with this but I also think that the universe can do a lot better than this. Do we really want to make lying a truth? The task might be impossible but there is always hope. I know I probably sound really optimistic, but I honestly do believe that we should try to make this "universal truth" less of a truth. How? Maybe we should start with ourselves and see how long we can go without lying. It would be a good test for our strengths and weaknesses as an individual. But is that even possible? Is my previous blog right- is it impossible to be better? I'm not sure of the answer but I am pretty sure that lying should no longer be labeled as a universal truth, and the only way we can make that possible is if we falsify it. Contradiction? I think not!

No more excuses.

Something I've noticed throughout my life is the many excuses that we humans make in order to justify our bad decisions. We always say, "Well, I'm just human" and "Everyone makes mistakes, no one's perfect" and although these statements are true, they should not be excuses. If we know what is right and what should be done, we should do them. We live our lives hoping that we do the right thing and we become good people, but we are unable to go through the motions. Sure, no one is perfect, but we must try to live up to our ultimate goal. But then again, what is our ultimate goal? Is it to have fun and live it up? Or is it to be a good person and do the best that we can on this earth?

Socrates believed that we must "live well" and not to just live. What exactly did he mean by "live well"? From my readings I see that he meant to live according to the right principles. If we know the right thing to do, but we refuse to fight our urges, in my opinion, we are not living well. I am not saying that we need to be perfect because our mistakes help us grow, but if we can overcome our desire to "just live," we should take that and run with it.

I know that as Christians this task is a little harder because we are in a society full of temptations, and as humans we are all prone to fail at some points in our lives but we must overcome. When there is a party on Friday that everyone is going to, we have to try to resist. Yes, it's hard but those little sacrifices that we make to do good things will help us achieve our ultimate goal. We have to make ourselves live up to high standards so that we can all "live well." Those typical excuses are easy to make when a crowd of people are following along, trust me, I know. If we are going to go against what we believe, than we should at least be able to accept the consequences, instead of making those excuses. Justifying the situation does not make the core problem go away, it just covers it up. Will we ever be able to live up to what we believe in??

If we can establish our ultimate goal in life, and we are truly trying to be better, than we should have no more excuses, or at least try to not have any more excuses lol. My goal in life is not to live fancy and buy nice things, it is to be the best I can be. Sure, I make mistakes and I have plenty of excuses up my sleeve but a part of growth is being able to put those excuses aside and transform them into elements that will bring you closer to your ultimate goal. Now, deciding what your ultimate goal is seems to be the hard part. But in time, everything will fall into place. Or will it?