Now who's the Liar?

Riddle me this:

There are two men. Each standing in front of a door. You know that one door leads to enlightenment (or free booze, or safety, or whatever you want since there are so effing many versions to choose from) and the other leads, well…away.

One man is constantly lying, while the other always tells the truth. Unfortunately, you can’t tell which is which because you just can’t (And although you probably won’t ask me to elaborate on this, I still feel obliged to ask you not to. I am tired. And a bit more tired. And I’ve got a Mount Everest-sized heap of homework waiting for me in my backpack which I probably won’t touch until I absolutely have to…And that, my friends, is the textbook definition of procrastination)

You only have one chance to ask one question to either of them to find out which one is telling the truth and which one isn’t.

What question is that?

The answer’s down below and I strongly suggest that you don’t rush straight down to see it before thinking really, really hard. Plus, for those who already know the answer, stick with me, aight? There’s some philosophy I really want to share and pictures of me in my angel costume partying the night away. And DON’T go around pasting the answer in the comment box or something else like OOOH OOOH I KNOW THE ANSWER I KNOW THE ANSWER!!! COME TO MY BLOG IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT IS (This has seriously happened before).

So we know that the question can’t be something as straightforward as “Are you guarding the door that leads to enlightenment?” Mainly because any goob with half the IQ of a Paris Hilton could answer that, and lie.

So if that’s not it, what else could it be?

Take five minutes to step away from the monitor and actually think about this. Seriously. I don’t want anyone smacking their face and going “Ahhhh shite, I knew that. Of course I knew that. How could I miss it *&$#@^%”

The answer is this. (Are you ready?) You ask each person “Will the other man say that you are guarding the door to enlightenment?”  The man who says “No” is the one guarding the door to enlightenment and the one who says “Yes” is a lying son of a bitch.

Yeahhhh….

What strikes me as interesting, however, is this: That the only way you can tell how a person is, isn’t by asking him about himself, it’s when you get to listen to how he (Or she…meh, mostly she) talks about other people. Anyone can say that oh hell yeah, I’m pretty, and random (GOD! How many people are calling themselves random these days?) and kind, and the list goes on and on. But not many people can do the same for others, and when I say others, I’m talking about straight out enemies.

It takes a certain level of compassion and empathy to see the goodness in everyone, even people you can't stand being in the same room with, and not everyone has that. So those who can't, simply partake in the fine art of bitching (which is understandable but not really forgivable).


There're those who managed to answer this riddle relatively quick. They're the kind who can spot out which ones are the people you should hang out with, and which are the ones you shouldn't. But not everybody can see that; there are some (Namely previous me, we'll call her 2010 Clarissa) who just want everyone to be kind and happy and good on the outside. I suppose I was a bit lax with who I called my friends in a naive, over idealistic way "Oh, she's talking bad about that girl again but that's OK, I'll never be treated like that"


Boy do I feel stupid just typing that paragraph.


So heed my lesson folks, sometimes you gotta lean inwards to find wisdom. Sometimes you gotta switch things around and put yourself in other people's shoes to find wisdom (Would I have been so mellow if I thought that they were talking about me? Probably not.) and finally, it's not what people say about themselves that matters, it's what they say and how they act towards others.


Guess I just got a bit smart-assier today.


Postscript: 
I promised it, and a police cadet never lies (You're thinking about Malaysian policemen. there's a difference)

Just in case you missed me, I'm the one in the angel costume. With a mask. Not the freaky doll at the back.

That's my friend Abby by the way, ain't she a cutey?

Until the next time,