2025 A to Z Challenge Blog From the Letter L

April 14, 2025. Spring may have booted Old Man Winter out of the way and sent him back to wherever he resides for the warmer months. I’m not saying he’s ready to listen, but it’s sunny today, and the temperature has climbed back to double digits–just 12C, but I’ll take it. That’s warm enough for me to put on a light jacket, sit in a sheltered area, and enjoy the sun on my face. I’m having the front entrance of my house redone next month, building a veranda there, so that I can sit in the sun and engage in a little people watching, letting my mind wander. Some of those passing by are neighbors I know. While many walk dogs, others just walk, some leisurely, others as if the hounds of hell are chasing them.

Today’s letter is L. Many times I’ve used this letter to blog about love, and while that is definitely a valid topic, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of blogs about it today.

I’ve decided to blog about lies. We all lie. It’s a fact of life. Sometimes, we lie because we know the truth will hurt someone. We call those white lies. Sometimes, we lie by not revealing the truth about something. We call those lies of omission. As a parent, we lie to our children to protect them.

I could add a few more to that list, such as the tooth fairy pays more for clean teeth. Then there’s Santa Claus bringing coal to naughty children, and of course, the Easter Bunny brings eggs to those who behave–how old were they when they realized that bunnies didn’t lay eggs, especially chocolate ones?

Of course, there were others that involved a squirt of magic potion, water, to scare away the monsters in the closet and under the bed, but whatever story I invented to respond to something that could harm them, was made out of love.

But there are other lies out there, the kind that while meant well, often end up hurting those we love. Everything is going to be alright is probably the worst one. Most of us can’t predict the future. We can’t see that they’ll land the job of their dreams. We don’t know that there won’t be a broken heart in their future, an abusive relationship, an illness, a death, or something else that will NOT make everything alright for them or for us, since we’ll suffer right along side of them.

I think the worst kind of lies are the ones we tell ourselves, the ones where we chose to bury our heads in the sand and ignore the truth in front of us. Our world is sick. Our air is polluted, and parts of our planet are suffering because of it. People are dying because of lies, ideologies that are aimed at destroying others for the sake of wealth and/or religion. When will the lies stop?

On that gloomy note, I bring you today’s song, something a little more upbeat.

That’s it. Tomorrow I’ll explore the letter M. Here’s the MASTER LIST  https://tinyurl.com/tauke86z