A few years ago, my then four-year old nephew stuck his face and tongue in my peanut butter jar and started eating the delicious contents. After asking him not to do that and explaining why, he stopped. A minute later, he picked up the same jar and did exactly the same thing again. I said, “Sweetie, you can’t put your face in the peanut butter jar.” Without a pause or a blink, he looked me right in the eye and said, “I didn’t.” The jar was in his hand. There was a dab of peanut butter on his nose.
My own children have been caught several times in a bald-faced lie. They knew the right thing to do, made a different choice and got in trouble. They tell me they’re sorry for not listening or lying and they won’t do it again. Occasionally they slip and make the same mistakes.
But if a child’s natural instinct is to lie when backed into a corner, even when the proof is irrefutable, what hope do we have for politicians, celebrities, athletes, ministers and others in the public eye?
