I was in a class this morning called "Oral Interpretation," where artistic minds are able to connect and, for once in our lives, during a short 50-minute class, we get to be honest. This is why I hold artists and actors at such a high regard. Everyone always thinks actors get on stage and play pretend. When really they get on stage and emerge themselves in the truth, regardless of how painful that might be. Actors get their hands dirty. They don't have the luxury of dancing around topics or resting comfortably on the surface. And although the circumstance might not be real and they are not actually stranded on a boat in the middle of the ocean, the feelings are real. We, as an audience can identify with the feelings of being stranded and being all alone at a time when you didn’t want to be. We rarely address the feeling of defeat in the moment it's happening. Only the aftermath and dwell on the part about making it through and getting over that feeling. No one wants to sit in pain.This is why preachers write sermons that give hope that a better day is coming.
Consider this.
Do you have a child with a set bedtime during the week, but on the weekends they can stay up past bedtime? Ever notice that once a certain time hits, regardless, if it's past the bedtime you gave them, he or she begins to fight his or her sleep. And even though sleep always wins, the first thing he’ll look at you and say with one eye half open, and that staggering drunk walk that children do before collapsing into sleep, is swear “I'm not tired” but five minutes later you find them passed out and snoring.
Have you ever been at a friends house where their mom cooked dinner and offered you something to eat? And with your stomach growling you said no. Even if you said no, because you know their mom cannot cook or you had a strict mom like mine, who did not let you eat over at someone else’s house because your dinner was gonna be ready soon, you lied. If your stomach was growling you were hungry. You said no to food and so, more than you lied to anyone else, you lied to yourself.
A girl could be texting you with the dirtiest emojis, agree to Netflix and chill, and wear the matching bra and panty set. Kiss all on you, especially that spot behind your ear. Rub you up and down and signal you with the “I want to have sex right now” eyes and still fix her mouth to say “no! I do not want to have sex.”
Do you know that people are the only creatures that lie? When a pig gets hungry he eats. There’ s no “I’m not hungry now.” Their stomach sends a signal to their brain, and guess what? They listen. When a bear gets tired he makes his way to his cave, closes his eyes and enters a sweet slumber. When dogs want to have sex they don't send mixed signals. They hop behind their mate and get down to business. Even when the urge to have sex is there and they don't have a mate, a dog will still hump your pillows and a cat in heat, will rub her head all over her owner.
Standing in raw truth takes a lot of guts and vulnerability. When really it shouldn’t. It should be easy to tell the truth but I think part of the blurred lines of saying we live truthful lives is lying to ourselves trying to convince ourselves that we already do.
We live in a society where we don't have the time deal with emotions and feelings. I can not remember the last time someone asked me “ how are you doing?” and I did not give them a generic answer like “fine. Or good” and that is because it almost does not matter. When the 15th comes my light bill is still going to be due, whether I’ve had a terrible week and did not want to go to work today. We lie. And sometimes it's just to get through the day. We lie when we say drug dealers are not legitimate businessmen. We lie and say that the Dakota Access Pipeline project is not a business deal that the US Army Corps of Engineers approved. The only difference between the two is that lawmakers deemed one illegal to accept profit for interfering with the progression of human lives and the other is legally allowed to profit from destroying the progression of human lives in exchange for money. We are homo sapiens, the only species that lies. We lie every day, we lie about the past. We lie today for the future.We have the god given ability to think critically and we still choose to lie. The irony.
