Just a Thought...

I was finishing up a book last night and I came across a quote that really suited the theme I am writing about in this blog and I thought I would share it. The book is called Spider Bones and it is written by Kathy Riechs. It is not the kind of book I normally read, but I guess I was meant to be reading it last night.

"So much deception. So many secrets. Is that how we live our lives?" (299).

I think the unfortunate thing is that a lot of us do live our lives that way. In the novel, the story had unfolded that a man had taken his cousin's identity and they had switched places. One went off to war and came back with another name which he continued to use until it was revealed nearly 40 years later that this man was not who he claimed to be. The unfortunate thing was that it took someone's death for the truth to come out.

This is an example of how complicated and how delicate these stories of deception can be. One little detail falling out of place can be the end of it all.

The author used a metaphor I really liked to describe the elaborate deception: she called it a spider's web. If you think about it, really this is true. The lies are weaved together so carefully and precisely, and it really is a beautiful thing how they all come together (beautiful in an awful kind of way). It is well known though, that the smallest bit of force can ruin a spider's web. It can get caught on something, blown away, or just maliciously destroyed. Webs are quite strong and can withstand some pressure, but in the end, they will break.

I connected this to Macbeth in that the story he tells and the deception is so fragile that even with the slightest sight of danger, he and his wife know that something needs to be done to protect their secret. They go as far as killing a friend to protect it. I wonder, under normal circumstances, how far the average person would go to protect a web of deceit.

Is this how we live our lives?