The Big W – I Cannot Tell a Lie

Yeah, I know who you thought this was going to be about, but it’s not! This is about THE Big W – that old George Washington W! It’s his birthday today, so I want to think about his role in our sexual lives.

I grew up in an era when we celebrated Lincoln’s birthday and Washington’s birthday on two separate days. We had a school holiday on both days, until someone decided we had too many holidays and put all of our presidents into one day – President’s Day.

What do we remember most about Washington? Well, yes, most of us know he was the first president of the United States. Most of us learned some little bits of history about him in school, so what’s the most outstanding thing you remember?

For me, it was that he supposedly cut down the family cherry tree, and when confronted with the deed (according to the familiar legend) he said “I cannot tell a lie. I did it with my little hatchet.”

So you may wonder what that has to do with my post today. Permit me to sort of think on this out loud for a few minutes.

How many of us when confronted with some misdeed are willing to be quite as honest as little Georgie was? My hunch is that many of us would hem and haw, shuffle our feet, cast our eyes downward and make up some sort of alibi, especially if we are guilty.

If we suspect our mate of infidelity, and we ask the question outright, which of us really expects an honest answer? Or turn that around - and if our mate suspects us of an infidelity, would we be willing to give an honest answer when we are asked about it?

Most of the time, there is too much at stake (generally financial) and we don’t want to jeopardize that precious commodity. Knowing we might lose our family, our retirement fund, perhaps even our job, we would tend to be evasive, no matter how much we want to be with that other person.

But is honesty always the best policy? Individuals are able to answer that question for themselves only. For me, there are too many pieces of the puzzle to be considered to make a blanket statement. Sometimes we might need to lie in order to protect something valuable, like a family.

Years ago, the term “situation ethics” came into being with a book with that title, written by Joseph Fletcher. At the time, my understanding of it was that we were to do the most loving thing in the situation. This did not mean we should go out and love indiscriminately, the way many people in the 60s and 70s interpreted his book.

When we are faced with two options, both of which could be dangerous or deadly, we must look at which situation will cause the least damage, or which we most believe in. Sometimes the response we are called on to make is clear cut, but most of the time it’s a choice between two events of equal value. The lines become blurred. How in the world do we decide?

I don’t want to get into the flap about whether or not someone should have been unfaithful to begin with. That’s not the issue here.

No, what I’m focusing on in this discussion is the best course of action to protect the most people. In other words, what is the most loving thing you can do in the situation? That might be telling the truth, or it might not be. You’ll need to make that decision before it comes up, and be ready for the consequences.

By the way, we all have been told a big lie our entire life. February 22 isn’t really George Washington’s real birthday. Check out the truth here if you don’t believe me!

Would I lie to you??

I blow you a kiss ~ ~ ~
Fanny