One. “I pay for my
children to get through school.”
When someone, who has a child in school, is telling you how broke they are doing this and that, you have to wonder, “Doing what?” If they can manage to buy a new car, get new additions for the home, etc while their child is lacking, something is amiss. You will surely find out the truth from the child. Maybe some are helping because a child doesn’t qualify for any assistance, but that is rare—usually they can get some financial aid. But when the child is telling you, “Auntie…Uncle… I don’t have any money for food and I am using my credit cards to pay for books and the financial aid office received my loans, but I still have a balance...” then you know this child’s parents ain’t paying for a thing!
Two. “Me and my husband have a good relationship…I love my wife.”
Now this sounds nice, but the truth of the matter is
oftentimes couples are having it rough.
Sometimes saying things out loud is nothing more than positive
affirmation—I see this a lot on Facebook, but if you were to follow people
home and live with them, you would see an entirely different story. I might go along with the story-telling until
someone starts trying to give me relationship advice.
Three. “I don’t like
none of them…they some nasty people!”
Usually if black folk call something or someone’s
personality nasty, they are telling the truth, but every now and again, you
have a hater that wants to bad-mouth people so that you don’t help them. Instead, they want you to divert your
attention to their needs so that you can reach down in your pocket to help
them. “Yeah your cousin ain’t no good…she
don’t need any money, I do…don’t be helping them!” the manipulator yells. “You know I have a birthday coming up.”
Four. “I’m a clean person…”
People who say this have their reasons for saying it. Maybe I say it, because I know how you are
and I am just letting you know that when you show up in my home, you will have
to take your shoes off and wash your hands, not in my kitchen sink, but in the bathroom
with the soap I have provided—understand?!
But others say, “I’m a clean person,” especially when they cook, because
they want you to feel comfortable eating their food, I agree, I say this too. However, there is that group who talks about “how
clean…how nice…” and how much they do this and that, but the reality is they
are unclean. Just sit back and watch how
well and how much they wash their hands when handling food, look under their
nails, walk by their ears, then bend down near them and sniff, then you tell me
how clean they are! If you should go to
their home, take your finger over a few pieces of furniture like their kitchen
or dining-room table, look at the carpet and view the walls then take a deep
sniff, I rest my case.
Five. “I make a lot
of money, I don’t want for anything.”
Some people are telling the truth, notice I said some, but
many lie. If one makes a lot of money,
then you have to ask yourself, “Then what is he/she doing with it?” There should be no excuse for bouncing
checks, running up credit cards, passing on getting the car fixed, getting
things shut off, and more “when you don’t want for anything.” I say, either he/she is cheap and just loves
hoarding money or he or she is wasteful and is just telling people about one’s
net worth to hide his or her foolishness!
Six. “I can help you…hook
you up…I know someone.”
If I heard this once, I have heard it a thousand times! The only one and I do mean the only one that
ever gave me a sincere, worthy “hook up” (when I asked for one, mind you) in my
life was my sister. The rest of my people
talked and talked some more and when I say sincere, I am not talking about some
temporary, “pay me back” later mess or “I don’t want this anymore, so I am just
giving it away.”
Real talk, many of my folks can’t even buy one of my books,
without expecting a discount or a hook up, much less help me get connected with
a top notch producer, business owner or someone in the publishing industry. So when you hear someone say this to you, ask
for contact information, receipts, licenses, and whatever else related to the “hook
up.” I’m telling you, it will keep you
out of trouble with the law and other folks you might know. Sometimes people do hook you up, alright, but
then you have to question is it legal, what might be the fine print in the
transaction—feel me?
Seven. “There’s
nothing wrong with that…I swear…I paid good money for it!”
“You lyin’! You got
it on sale! Why must we go there!” I
think this when I hear about someone flashing their new purchases. What’s worse is some people are given things
and won’t even give credit where credit is due.
“You didn’t buy that! Yes I did…”
she says. “Like h*ll, you did!” he
responds. Oh yea, that happy couple I
mentioned earlier, well his wife got some explaining to do.
So the next time your people, my people and even us get tempted to lie about something, take that pause and tell yourself, “I ain’t going to lie God, not today, but you might have to give me an extra anointing tomorrow.”
Nicholl McGuire, author of When Mothers Cry and other books.
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