The Embellishers

This isn't about writing. If we weren't good at embellishing, we wouldn't be writing now would we?

Nope. I'm talking about people in the world who feel the need to embellish upon themselves, their lives, and reality in general. You know the kind. They're the ones who drove to New York in half the time it takes a normal human being. They're the ones who say they make $60K a year when they really make $57K. (Or if they're talking to someone who frowns on a higher salary, then they round down.) They're the ones who insist they're 6' tall when they're really only 5'10".

They're the kind of people who fudge the basic statistics of their life to suit themselves. Don't get me wrong, they don't always fudge to the positive. If it works for them to seem worse off than they are, they're happy to do that, too.

And they'll happily fudge data to encompass the rest of the world, too. If they hear on the radio that the NY State Lottery is up to 100 million, they'll fudge it up to 120. Why? Because it makes the story more interesting, and because the things they fudge about really don't matter in the whole scheme of things, no one ever calls them on it. It doesn't hurt anyone, right?

Think about it though. If a little white lie here or there doesn't matter, then why do people do it so often? What is the point? I'm not going to like a person less because they're two inches shorter, make $3K less per year, or drive like a normal human being. Would you?

Maybe I'm just anal. I like reality. I like who I am. Why would I want to lie about it? I'm pretty much a WYSIWYG person. (For the non-geek, that means What You See Is What You Get.)

Okay. I've about ranted myself out. I just like things to be the way they are.

So what about you? Do you prefer the world as it is, or would you rather things be embellished a bit?