Monday, March 03, 2008

Why do people lie to each other?


I once defended a guy whose wife was seeking to have their marriage annulled. There are 2 types of unions that can apply - void marriages and voidable ones. The facts in this case added up to a situation where 2 people should never have done more than shake hands but they had married.........

He was furious with her because she had lied about her age and he felt she was past the ideal child bearing window!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She was furious with him because he had lied about his age and he was far too young to be sufficiently established as a breadwinner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The irony of their situation was lost on both of them.

I thought they both looked their age so could not understand how they thought they could even get such a lie off the ground. But the fact is they did and the real question is how on earth did they think they would get away with it? How do you explain that one? No one forgets their age unless they are senile by which stage one is unlikely to be dating anyway.

How does it start? Surely if you are out in a club on the pull then before you launch into the big one - normally men exaggerate their earning potential - the world is full of labourers pretending to be property developers and bank clerks pretending to be money dealers but....... they are probably seeking a one night stand and simply trying to increase their odds.

This is a whole world away from marrying someone whom you have lied to. It is amazing but many people do it, bigamists, gold diggers, ex criminals, double lifers. How do you protect yourself from such scoundrels? Common sense is the main defence. If something does not add up.........it does not add up no matter how much you want it to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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