Today Lily showed me her new drawing.
It was… interesting.
I mean, if you like pink trees, a green sky, and a giraffe with wings.
“Do you like it?” she asked, her eyes wide like dinner plates. I could even see the reflection of my own shocked face in them.
I scratched my nose to buy some time.
“Umm… yeah!” I said quickly.
She smiled and kept drawing. And I felt… weird. Why did I lie?
Maybe because I didn’t want to disappoint her?
Then I remembered I once drew a cat, and Mom called it “very original.”
But later, I heard her tell Dad, “It looks like a potato with a tail.”
And that made me think.
If you tell someone something is great, even when it isn’t…
Are you doing it for them or for yourself?
If you say “It’s not that good” and they feel disappointed, but then they try harder and improve…
Does that mean you did the right thing?
I mean, after a few disasters, I finally drew something that kinda looked like a real cat.
If the truth can hurt, but a lie can mislead…
Which is better?
Maybe grown-ups don’t always tell the truth because they don’t want to hurt others.
Or maybe they’re more scared of disappointment than the people they’re lying to.
But if I, a seven-year-old, can figure out these secret codes,
Then the adults must know them too.
They just choose silence.
Are they more afraid of the truth than we are?