True Deciever

Come over here for a minute. Come on, sit down over there. Just listen for a minute and then you can go home. There you go.1

Now, I know I’m an old man, I know you think I don’t understand you, and I know you’re probably right. But some things in life don’t change. At least some things haven’t changed since I was born and that’s a pretty damned long time ago. The most important of those things is something my grandfather told me, and, I believe, something his father had told him. Unfortunately I can’t seem to remember what it was, but the moment I remember I’ll tell you. The second most important thing is that all women are evil, but any old drunk could have told you that.2

The third thing is that there are only two kinds of men in this town: honest men and liars. On some points they differ, on some they don’t. 3

Most honest men are born in working families. So are most of the liars.4

Honest men grow up happily, because they live in a fantasy world where they can’t see that the city’s falling apart. But the liars, they don’t have that kind of imagination. They can’t help seeing the tumbleweeds rolling through the streets, they can’t help smelling the old gasoline, and they can’t help hearing the neighbour beating the hell out of his wife.5

Honest men have dreams and ambitions, and believe themselves to be capable of giving up anything to fulfil them. Liars do too.6

In school, when the students are asked to talk about their greatest hero, the honest men will start to talk about their fathers. So will the liars, and that is where the lying begins. The liars don’t admire their fathers, because the liars can’t help seeing their fathers throwing up and passing out on the floor and flirting with the neighbour’s wife.7

You know that an honest man has found the love of his life when he says that he is unhappily in love. You know that a liar has found the love of his life when he says that he wants to spend the rest of his life alone.8

I guess you think that you are one of the liars. Most young people do. Self-pity seems to be quite fashionable these days. But believe me; you’ve been given a lot more than most kids in this city. Besides, my definition of an honest man is not yet complete. All these differences – and likenesses –, however important they may seem, are all insignificant. 9

What really makes an honest man is how he acts in his darkest hour. Because as we stand there on our knees as if we were praying, even though the existence of any god or deity seems impossible, there will always be someone who asks us: ‘Are you alright? Can you make it through?’ Here, an honest man will say what he’s really thinking: ‘No.’ He will raise his hands and surrender, and step down from his turf. But the liar will skilfully deceive everyone, especially himself, and stand his ground. And he will be hurt, sometimes beyond recognition, but that’s not the point. You ever heard how they speak about white lies, Jimmy? Well, fooling the people around you into believing, for a moment, that the world is actually a good place, that’s a goddamned golden lie in my book. You descend from a long bloodline of liars. You should be proud.10

Promise me one thing, James. Promise me that when the crucial moment of your life arrives, you will do the opposite of what your heart tells you.11