When we Owls float around Limestone County at the dawn of the New Year, we are intrigued. A common practice among people we observe is to make a “resolution.” Now, we’ve come to understand that means a promise. I promise to lose twenty pounds (I hope!) in the coming year (so long as that includes significant, daily amounts of chocolate!). I resolve to treat my little brother better (even though he is annoying!). I will finally write the Great American Novel, or better yet, a play like Shakespeare. You get my drift.

But what about something we might reasonably expect to accomplish? Something that will become a habit, which we can practice ourselves, and insist upon from others? How about resolve to practice simple honesty? Now we all teach Owlets from an early age to be honest. Without honesty, you can’t trust. I’m sure we all know the phrase, “A government position is a public trust.” Why is this idea so hard? Only say what is true, because the truth will set you free (and prevent you from having to memorize your lies!). When do we lose trust? When people lie, and are found out, that’s when. Just look over recent events in town, in our state, our nation, and around the world. Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. So don’t! Webs of lies are tricky, because they tangle both hearer and teller. Lies don’t care who gets hurt.

Read any mystery story or watch any film noir movie, and lies play a significant role. “Gaslight” is an accepted term now. It’s in a story where a liar pretends to tell the truth to make his wife think she’s going mad. “Disinformation” is a new mystery theme, where outraged people are driven to deadly acts because someone in authority lied. We read and watch mysteries because we want justice to prevail, the good guy detectives to win. What do we hope for? We want the dastardly plots of the bad guys to be foiled, their lies exposed. Athens-Limestone Library and a couple other venues around town have started book clubs. Join one. Discuss what seems to be a recurrent theme in our land.

So why would anyone lie to someone else in the real world? Because lies are easier ways to get something if the truth won’t do.

Consider a “criminal” case we all know: If a little kid climbs up on a chair, takes the red chili pepper-designed porcelain lid off the cookie jar, inserts his hand, and grabs a cookie; mom might see and catch him in the act. She told him earlier, “No! You can’t have another one!” Now the little squirt might say, with tears in his eyes, “But mommy, I found one on the floor and was putting it back!” or, “But mommy, the lid was so pretty I wanted to examine it!” (These defenses have been tried repeatedly to little avail with toe-tapping, stern-faced moms.)

If in an interview you lie about your qualifications, should you get the job? If caught, should you insist, “Hey, what’s a lie after all?” What next? Insist you keep the job? Maybe expect a security clearance next? That seems to be the mode these days. You lie because you want the cookie. You get caught because you lied and hid the truth. You insist that your lies are OK because a) who cares or b) they aren’t lies, but truth, just said in a funny way. They are, as the folksinger John McCutcheon said in his witty and wise song, just “Alternative Facts.” Lies to get a job should disqualify anyone. Consider our previous “criminal” case. Normally, a smack and a lecture from mom awaited the cookie snatching little guy, caught in the act. Wouldn’t it be better if the little one said, once caught. “I’m sorry. Please forgive me mommy.” Then the offender could, with honor intact, bow out of the cookie jar room. Or in other circumstances, bow out of the job, the race, or a contest.

William Faulkner, an author from a couple counties over said, “Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world would do this, it would change the earth.” It is good that those who betray a public trust, or any trust for that matter, be penalized. Don’t believe their lies even when they “double down.” Once burned, shame on them. Twice burned, shame on me. If you want to be remembered, be known for your honesty. What a shock to the system that would be!