“Just Kidding”

Proverbs 26:18-19 KJV: As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, So is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport?

Or, to put it in today’s language:

As a psycho who throws molotov cocktails, shoots bullets, and causes death, so is the one who tells a lie and then says, “Just kidding!”

When I was a kid, I was an exceptionally trusting type (still am, to a large degree, but not as much as I was then). This made me a target for the type of person the verses above describe. I can’t tell you how many times people told me things then laughed at how gullible I was.

To those of you who do this, let me give you the perspective of the other side.

See, people like me believe you, and trust you, the first time you tell us something that isn’t true. You then proceed to laugh and ridicule us for believing you. While slightly more wary, we will often trust you a second time, since we have a hard time believing people aren’t trustworthy at first. But once you’ve ridiculed us for TRUSTING you twice, most of us will then stop believing you.

Completely.

Since you made it quite clear that we were stupid to believe your lies, we are taught BY YOU that you are not trustworthy, and we should assume anything you say is a lie that is meant to bring us to further ridicule.

At this point, you start getting annoyed with us for NOT believing you, when you are telling the truth. But, think about it – how would we KNOW? You acted like you were telling the truth the other times, too, only to say “just kidding” and laugh at us for believing you.

If you are the type who likes to do this sort of “joking,” may I strongly recommend that you think twice before the next time you are about to lie to someone, and then ridicule their trust in you?