It goes without saying, that the first exchange of words in a chance, or a priorly scheduled meeting with a friend, family member, colleague or even a mere acquaintance, will irrevocably be
Them: “Hey! How are you?”
In most cases, your response will be limited to any of those indicated in my “sketch” (For want of a better word!)
But there is a rather good justification for all that lies. No one feels like pouring their hearts out to random strangers. But there’s also something about not spilling the beans (if there are any!) at the first sign of conversation. Ironically, even though you might be bursting to talk to someone, you just can’t bring yourself to say “No, I’m not at all fine”. Or, is it just me? It’s better to keep your mouth shut than say the wrong thing to the wrong person! So you really can’t blame people for resorting to such white-lies.
Even when you know the person well, it can be difficult to open up, especially if what you are going to say is going to cause a lot of consequences.
Often, the tone, inflection of the voice and/or facial expression could lead to people calling you out on your bluff. As long as these lies don’t hurt anyone, I guess it’s okay. In my way of thinking, lying is bad. But spewing off a couple of white lies, to avoid a conversation with the last person you want to have a heart-to-heart with, can be construed as perfectly normal. After all, “How are you?” is nothing but a cursory greeting, that deserves a cursory reply!
On another note, imagine just how long would our noses have been, if we had the same curse as Pinocchio! Thank God, that’s just a fairy tale 😉
© 2015 Shweta Suresh. All rights reserved.
Image courtesy: Getty Images
A cursory greeting that deserves a cursory reply ha-ha! Good one 😀
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