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A few years ago I had tea with some friends in a restaurant in one of the high rise building. We had a magnificent view over Jakarta and the setting sun had caused the skyline to appear more dramatic than usual.
A lady came in with a few guests, apparently Dutch, because the lady started telling her in the Dutch language: "Look at Jakarta from here, we have so many high-rise buildings now, more than in the whole of the Netherlands. I remember that when I went to Holland years ago I was so impressed with the big buildings. When I came back here I suffered a shock because I thought that I had landed in Lilliput country. The buildings that appeared big my youth, were then no more than big huts to me. Now it is the other way round, when I am in the Netherlands I feel like being in a village!"
While she proudly went on to point out which buildings belonged to the family's company, with her guests trotting behind her, Jeffrey, ou host grinned and said: "I hope she is not in for a disappointment, because all these buildings, including those of her family's company are all built on debts. Once the whole system collapse, all these buidings will be worth nothing. And what is worse, also our money. And who will be the victims? Not the big businessmen themselves, but the little men in the street. The big businessmen are the Munchausens of today!"
Because not everyone in the group was familiar with the stories of Baron von Münchhausen, he had to tell us that this German nobleman lived in the 18th century and became well-known because of the tales he used to tell, to entertain his dinner guests. One of his famous tales was about a deer that he shot. Because he ran out of bullets, he used some cherry pits that he had in his hands. He shot the deer in the head, between the two eyes. The deer ran away, but after many years the baron saw a deer with a big cherry tree on his head. Obviously it was the same deer that he had shot years before! He shot the deer and the guests could then enjoy a sample of its meat served with cherry sauce from the tree he had carried on his head!"
"Münchhausen was a genius in leading his guests into illusions and they all knew that he lied, but they could see the humorous side of his lies! But sometimes illusions are too good and it is hard to accept that they are false."
This tea hour happened a few years ago, in the meantime the economy did collapse and with a big bang at that. Many lies have been told since then, big and small. The small once may be told by ourselves. Since we were small children we knew that little ailments like a headache or a tummy ache helps in drawing attention from mother. In later life we dye our hair and do some face-lifting, so nobody would guess our age. We tell white lies to save ourselves from unpleasant situations..... We let people tell that we are not in or that we are at an important meeting when we do not want to come to the phone.
Those are the little lies, not a big deal when we compare them to the bigger lies have told by others like for instance heads of states. The whole world now knows what these lies are. It becomes more difficult when we ask which lie is the biggest? And that was exactly what Jeffrey asked us when he invited us for tea again. This time it was not only to admire the magnificient few, but also to watch the election campaigns that turned the city red. We all remained silent and he wondered why it was so difficult to answer such a seemingly simple question.
Surely, nobody will ever know the answer a question like that. The Guiness books of records can set standards for the longest kiss, the largest cake, the oldest living person and now there are people vying for the longest E-mail. But when it comes to lies, "big" or "small" are not measured with a measuring tape, a clock, or in years but with the impact it has on the victims involved. And that of course is not easy.
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