Once upon a time, in a land far far from here, a young brother and sister lived deep in a forest constructed of cake and confectionery (everyone’s dream, especially over the Easter weekend!). The two children, Hansel and Gretel, were threatened by a cannibalistic witch and survived by outwitting her. True to the fairy tale ending, the children – despite their troubles – live happily ever after. The tale has, of course, been adapted for various media from animation to opera….
Fairy tales are tales. The clue is in the name. They are short stories typically featuring fantasy characters, such as “dwarves, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, mermaids, trolls, or witches, and usually magic or enchantments” (according to Wikipedia, so it must be right). It doesn’t matter that they are inherently ‘made up’ because we know that and understand that when we enter into a ‘contract’ with them. But how many contracts have you entered into which are a completely load of codswallop? Based on the most tenuous amount of fact….? How do you get out of these contracts?
Sometimes people tell you the most amazing amount of ‘pork pies’ (cockney rhyming slang for lies) in order to get your signature on the relevant piece of paper. But did you know, you may have a 14-day period in which you can cancel a signed contract (in the UK)? [Other cancellation periods are relevant in other countries across the globe too….]
Sadly, tall stories and/or lies are becoming an enormous problem in society today – in fact, some people tell them so well, they believe them to the point of telling others and making problems for other people by spreading their ‘porkie pies’. ‘Innocent until proven guilty’, so they say …. but what happens when the innocent person didn’t know they needed to prove their innocence?!?! How can you prove you didn’t do something, when you didn’t know you had to….?
Society is a bloody weird thing – much as social media is a marvellous thing (believe me, I ain’t ever going to knock it!), doesn’t it cause more problems than we had before? Though, having said that, people can still manage to achieve as much damage by opening their mouths…. Maybe put the pork pie in – and therefore, give yourself time to think – before saying anything?!!!
