JUSTIFICATION

Dagwood and Blondie failed in their attempt to ease out of an uncomfortable situation. What causes us to want to go that way instead of just telling the truth? Either we are afraid of their responses and do not want to address the topic any further; or we just like being lazy. Either we want to control the situation or we like lying because we think it is easier and harmless in this instance. Is not telling the truth harmless? Do we want our friends and kids to tell us lies to spare us? Not me. I pursued the path of getting my kids to tell the truth all of the time. I think they told what they thought was their truth at times.

At any given time we can only respond in ways we are capable of doing. We can therefore use that as an excuse and justify our storytelling. We also want to justify by telling ourselves it was best for all concerned. Now I have a question about this type of justification. If there is a need to justify, it sounds like it is dishonest and we don’t like what we just said or did in a situation. If we don’t like how we responded; don’t we have a responsibility to clean it up?