“Always Cop To A Lesser Plea!” – Peter
In life, a word of advice when you’re young can be all that it takes to get you through situations which might otherwise be occasions of great emotional trauma…
I was in my early teens when I was “busted” for some rule infraction of my parents. I do not remember whatever triggered this family event, but after I admitted I had done this thing, I was “punished” in some way, and again, the details are not relevant.
At some point later, when Peter and I were alone, he asked if he could give me a tool to use, on occasion, such that some traumas in life (and/or punishments, such as what happened) would virtually disappear!
“Always cop to a lesser plea!”, Peter advised. (“Fib” might be another way of putting it…)
I accepted his advice and used it on many occasions in my life. (If a “fib” makes for a better life for all concerned, I see no moral imperatives violated. That’s just me, you’ll have to make up your own mind where this line is crossed, if ever, for yourself…)
I make a distinction between lying and a “fib”. I believe Peter was telling me to “fib” instead of blurting out the real truth, especially when the Truth may cause unpleasantness, while the “fib” allows life to go on in a friendly way.
For example, if you are in pain, but you knew the person you were around didn’t like you taking drugs, (even to stop the pain), you might say that you had taken no drugs and that you were sleepy. If you say you were all right because you had taken the meds, the person may react hysterically, yet now, life goes on and you are out of pain!
“Are you in pain?” ==> “No, I’m just sleepy.” See, this person “copped to a lesser plea”, and life went on…
While Society calls for “Truth”, We usually accept mere “Truthiness”, perhaps even “An Inconvenient Truthiness”.
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I wrote this a second time, as I lost the original text to an unplanned reboot. (I sort of wondered if it wasn’t Peter’s red pen at work, editing in a Fell Swoop, but unless the power goes off, or Windows crashes, I’m assuming it’s OK with Peter to now let this particular cat out of the bag…)
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