Tell Me Lies

But only if they’re sweet and pretty or wait don’t tell me any at all? I’m reading this book about a man who tries to interpret the bible literally and applies all of the rules to his life for one year, but how much interpretation is too much and how do you decide? What’s a white lie, an omission, a flat out evil manipulation of the truth,…

I was just outside on my lunchtime walk enjoying the clear blue skies, sunshine, ..you know the typical Austin end of February day, when I walked by Hooters (not my normal route but I needed to drop off my utilities payment) when 3 guys in army uniforms called out to me.

-Excuse me miss?
-(Internal dialogue: Ignore them and keep walking? They’re probably going to make some stupid comment anyway just keep going. No, it’s a pretty day and you shouldn’t judge them based on where they ate lunch…be nice) “Yes”
-Have you ever thought about joining the military?
-no, laugh, absolutely not!
End of discussion

Then the rest of my walk by Lady Bird Lake was spent analyzing if I lied to them or not instead of just enjoying the thrill of being away from a computer and phone.

Have I ever thought about joining? Well, not about me myself and I joining. I did think about being a civilian teacher employed through the armed services…does that count? And I’ve thought about the topic about joining the military quite a bit. Why do people join, are recruitment tactics fair, what are the advantages to some people who wouldn’t see the world any other way or have access to education, why did my grandparents join, how are people perceived once they join, should recruits believe in the current battles, and the list goes on and on. So clearly I have thought about it and lied to them when I said that I hadn’t.

Do the three guys care? Chances are that the few words we exchanged outside Hooters were not top of their conversation list on the way back to base, so didn’t I accomplish the goal of communication and save them time trying to recruit me when they could be targeting someone else?

Next time I’m going to just stick with “not interested”. That’s honest right?