A world of LIES and SUSPICION...

No parents in their right mind would teach their children to lie to or to be paranoid towards others. But, as children grow up, many tend to develop such undesirable traits or habits towards others in life.

They are conditioned to think and believe that people usually do not tell the truth, and when one speaks the truth, nobody believes it. People are so used to others telling them lies even when someone speaks the truth, it becomes too good to be true. You may like to test it out when you happen to play "hide-and-seek" game next time. Tell where the person is actually hiding, and see how such true information is being taken as a lie.

Many people also believe that when somebody is being nice and helpful to them, he or she must have ulterior motives. They tend to become paranoid and negatively judgmental towards that person who in the first place, could be just a good Samaritan. I know of a wife who suspected that her husband had an extra-marital affair, started to become paranoid and could even make a case out of a long hair found in the front seat of the car. And, one day, the husband bought a car for her so that it is more convenient for her to fetch the children to and from school. She told me, "I think my husband feels guilty now. So, he bought a car for me."

To make this world a better place to live in, I think we should learn to tell the truth and stop being paranoid towards others. Of course, like in all things, some caution should be exercised because there are some truly professional liars who are out to cheat.