Pulling wool over people's eyes

Every so often, we find ourselves having to lie to pull ourselves out of a potentially sticky situation. However, there are times when we find ourselves at the other end of the lie; we find that we have been lied to. Sometimes, it is just a white lie, lies which are used to avoid embarrassing the person lied to. Then of course there are times where the lies are designed to cover up our, or their, devious deeds. Then of course, there are the lies which are just told for the entertainment of those who know the truth. These lies, which border on practical jokes, while rare, have been seen in action twice during my brief tenure in Form 6. There have probably been more occasions, but I will only delve into two here.

First up was the big, long one. Two of my classmates, Chun Hwa and Shiau Sing, who share the same surnames, said they were cousins. I was sceptical, but as it seemed genuine, I just played along. I got really sceptical when one of their grandparents passed away this year, and only one of my two classmates disappeared, while the other one just kept coming to school. I swear I could smell something fishy was in the air, but like I said, as it seemed genuine, I did nothing to allay my doubts.

Unlike me, however, some of my classmates were utterly convinced that it was the truth. It probably had something to do with the fact that they had the same surname, for starters. Then, of course was the fact that Chun Hwa looked like the responsible type who seemed like he could never tell a lie (I nearly died typing this). I mean, would you consider a person who is the chairman of one of the more active associations in school untrustworthy? Considering his co-curricular activities and ability to persuade teachers, I thought he might be more trustworthy than he has shown himself to be.

On this particular situation, however, it took two to tango. Shiau Sing and Chun Hwa, both of them being jump students (read: skipped one year of primary education), looked (and still look) rather innocent (I almost died typing this as well) so it looked like they wouldn't lie about the truth. Of course, this was before I saw Chun Hwa in a different light. I can't talk about the details, as it "never happened", but ever since then, I knew that Chun Hwa was not as innocent as he was originally cut out to be. As for Shiau Sing, well, after sitting beside her for an entire year, I have found out that she is not as innocent as her face looks. As the saying goes, one should not judge a book by its cover.

Nevertheless, one fine day, when the two of them had had enough fun fooling around with the heads of 6A, they decided to let the cat out of the bag. So when the class finally reassembled, cries of Sonia going, "Chun Hwa, how could you?" were rampant. When I asked Chun Hwa himself as to the reason for the commotion, for I had not found out yet, he told me that he and Shiau Sing were not cousins. I smiled very broadly. I had been fooled to a certain extant, but I wasn't surprised at this outcome. Best to say that we should question everything we hear.

Now for the second round of wool pulling. The main characters this time round are Sonia and Wai Ling. But first, for some background information. Wai Ling, who is more diligent than most (myself included) was going for MPT 5&6 (read: prom night), a surprising decision for me, but then again, I am no great judge of people. Then there was talk as to who should be her escort, how she would look that night and the kind of things which girls talk about when they get together. In a Form 6 Bio class, where the boy-girl disparity is 1:3.5, hearing these kinds of things, even for guys, are normal.

So when talk of Wai Ling's escort started, Sonia decided to mess up the heads of everyone in 6A. She spun a tale that Wai Ling was going out with someone from next the door, the Physics class. The best part: Wai Ling played along. So she went and "tarik harga", saying she would refuse to tell us, and at the same time, Sonia would say that she did have a date. To make it look real, Sonia finally said that Wai Ling was going to go out with Yee Seng.

And, of course, Wai Ling played along. Rather than flatly denying it, as some people would, she just very gently pushed it aside. Then Jamie, who thought that Sonia was telling the truth all along, said that if Wai Ling wanted to keep it quiet, then Sonia shouldn't have blabed on her. I was surprised to say the least, and on this occasion, I left my guard down, assuming I had heard the truth. However, when one of my classmates went over to the Physics class to congratulate Yee Seng on his "catch", he just looked completely blurr. That was when it the truth started to come out, and when those who believed that Wai Ling was indeed going out with Yee Seng ended up in awkward positions.

Wai Ling did have an escort that night, or rather she escorted someone onto the stage that night; someone lucky from the Physics class, who ended up with two girls despite being in a predominantly male class (She and one of my other classmates did so, the other with someone from the History class. But that's another story). But the reason why Wai Ling's story seemed so credible was something similar to the first situation : Wai Ling's a jump student, and Sonia was Secretary to the Exco of the Prefect Board. Again we see a similar pattern: one "innocent", and one "trustworthy".

Sometimes, we tell lies because it is in our culture to do so: offending the host of any event is not the best thing to do on any occasion, and is generally frowned upon. However, trust and faith, gained through time, should not be misused to lie: practical jokes, no matter how funny they may seem then, often have very long and far reaching consequences. In the end, the boy who cried wolf ended up losing all his sheep.

But then again, some people have very good poker faces. Just goes to show one should question everything, and not judge a book by its cover.