Listen & Be Heard Weekly Archives

?Stranger than fiction? first brings to mind the Darwin Awards. For those not familiar, the following is a description from the official website (www.darwinawards.com):

We salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who remove themselves from it. Of necessity, this honor is generally bestowed posthumously.

Each year via email, I receive the current list of honorees along with the corresponding stories of their bizarre, albeit unfortunate demises. At first encounter, I was sure that these tales named after evolutionist Charles Darwin, had to be twisted jokes or urban legends gone morbid, but no. Some poor soul did indeed expire in an attempt to win a high-altitude spitting contest and it is true that a good ole? boy?s last words were ?watch this!? As odd as these graceless deaths obviously are and as unorthodox as it may seem to commemorate them, they serve as perfect illustrations of truth being stranger than fiction.

The funny thing about truth is its sometimes-seeming incredibility. How many times in an attempt to keep it real have we been disbelieved, due to the very nature of the unusual reality involved? I know it?s happened to me and most notably, during one experience of my life so far removed from the norm that it could not have possibly been rationally discerned by others and therefore was dismissed as illusion or fiction. Yes, the truth can be that weird, making the temptation to lie that much more appealing if it?s more likely to be swallowed. Could this be how the compulsive liars get their starts?

I admit that for the most part, I am a stickler for the truth and at times, to my own undoing. I?ve buried myself more than once when lying would have been so much easier and much less painful to my psyche. Kicking myself for lying, I can accept. But, for telling the truth? That can?t be healthy. However, I do believe that lies can be divided into subcategories. For instance, there are the white lies; i.e. ?I?m late for work because of traffic.? There are the lies to preserve someone?s feelings, an example being ?No, you don?t look fat in those jeans.? Finally, there are the polite lies, as in ?I?m fine, thank you.? In my view, all three of the aforementioned fall under the heading of ?harmless,? as I think it?s masochistic to stab oneself in the back, sadistic to do so to someone else and unrealistic to bore those who are simply exchanging pleasantries with mundane frank trivialities of our bad day. Honestly (no pun intended), it?s the big, fat whoppers I have trouble doling out and/or receiving. But, to be accused of a whopper when telling the God?s honest truth is the most aggravating of all and takes me back to my childhood when I once screamed in frustration at my mother, ?But, I?m telling the truth this time!? Granted, the inclusion of the words ?this time? took much of the validity out of the statement but the point is, theanger one can feel at unjustifiably being called a liar is indescribable. In that instance, the truth does hurt. Still, as strange as truth can be and as conceivable as fiction often is, at least with the former we?re left with a clear conscience. The accusations and unbelief surrounding our outrageous revelations may bruise our egos but hey, that?s for the doubters to deal with. Shamelessly, we can hold our heads up high and actually mean it when we say, ?That?s my story and I?m sticking to it??

Be Sociable, Share!

•