Do You Lie?

A stupid question really, because technically, pretty much all of us do. Or do you claim to be the most honest person on the face of earth. Some of you may, because lack of a clear self image in people is just so common today, that it has stopped to even surprise me. Now the only thing it does, is fill me with a fear, that I may soon start over estimating myself.

No it is not humility I am talking about here, but plain and simple lack of plain sight. I see the most dishonest people, openly claim themselves to be extremely honest, adulterous men calling themselves virtuous, people who are perpetually bitching about others, claiming to never say a bad word about anybody, and not only are these statements the casually make, but things that they truly believe about themselves. And that scares me. How false a self image can people nurture. I see it in so many people these days, that I don't know whether that is the normal way to be.

One may argue that such people were not taught to distinguish between right and wrong, maybe no one taught them when they were children, but I just cannot believe that. These things are part of our conscience, don't we just know what is right and what is wrong. Not being taught? maybe not formally, but we all learn what is right and what is wrong as we grow up don't we? Maybe not. But the fact remains, how are people so blissfully unaware of their faults or wrongdoings?

There is no scope for change or improvement, if someone is completely blind to the fact that they do have some faults, what will you improve in the perfect? And that I believe is the reason, most people never care to change or get better. Forget about accepting a mistake, they are blind to their personality traits, like being a habitual liar or manipulator or even a fanatic for that matter. I remember interacting with a blogger long back, who claimed to be very mild tempered, but one look at the blog and you know it is just the exact opposite that is in fact reality. How, and I really wonder how do these people create such illusions about their own selves? How can one lie to the soul?

I am very aware of my drawbacks, my weaknesses, my wrongdoings. If I lie, I know I have done it, and it is not right, anger remains to be my biggest enemy, when I am upset with someone, I am super critical of them, and I am aware of these things. How can I not be, I do it, how can I not know it? I am neither special, nor great, not even close to nice, because I have way too many faults that need to be worked on, and if someone as average(or maybe below average) like me can know it, I just don't get how others don't. What could be the possible reasons I wondered. They may not know right from wrong (is that even possible??), they have the I am always correct syndrome(no hope for a change then), pretending to themselves, hoping that if they do it long enough, they will believe in it themselves (wow! what a wrong attitude towards change), and I cannot think of any other. Whatever the reason, I don't find any of the excuses plausible or even acceptable as a reason. It is a really sad person, who is not honest to himself. And I definitely hope I never take the turn to get to such a point. If nothing, being aware of my flaws, gives me some hope of improving on them.

What about you, are you aware of your flaws, or do you not believe you have any?