Gordon's Giblets
I
wouldn't consider myself to be a liar. Trust is important to me so I try to
hold myself to a standard of honesty to maintain that character trait. However,
when mixed with the right person in the right environment, one's true nature can
be cast aside for the adoption of totally new personality. This exact thing
happened when two fun-loving, sarcastic and imaginative people coincided at a
15 day summer camp.
I
had been invited to participate in a work crew staff at Rockbridge Young Life
camp for a little over two weeks. With anticipation on my mind and a humble
spirit on my heart, I gladly accepted. Upon arrival at the camp I only about 2
or 3 people. One of the first people I met at camp was named Zachary Wyatt
Inman. Zach was a tall, athletic eighteen-year-old with a servant's heart and a
caring personality. He also had a devastating sense of humor.
Our
lack of familiarity with those around us gave us an outstanding opportunity to
build relationships with people that would be built purely on our time spent at
camp. This also provided the chance to abuse that relationship. One of the
first conversations between Zach and I was how we could have pretended to have
accents when we first arrived and convince everyone that we were foreigners.
This sparked a flame that would ignite the fire of constant deception.
We
contemplated over how we use our prime relationship with those around us to
abuse our status. Once this happened, lies began pouring out of us. We
convinced the fifty or so people on the work crew that Zach had become engaged
two days before journeying to the camp, that our friend Terry was a
professional Bill Cosby impersonator and that the Amish don't believe in
Wednesday. They ate the stories like they were banana pudding.
One
tale outgrew the others by mass proportions. Zach and I told everyone that we
had a Youtube channel called Gordon's Giblets. Everyone wanted to know what it
was like, due to our hilarious personalities and natural ease for comedy, so we
decided to put on a live show. Our on-stage antics were so popular with the
crowd that we began to perform almost every night. The little white lie had
grown into something beyond belief.
Eventually
we began to realize that we had taken things too far. People began to stop
believing us at all and we started to understand the effect it had on our
character. So, with heads held low, we revealed all of our half-truths, fairy
tales and falsehoods. Amazingly, no one was upset. They all found it hilarious
that we had pulled it off so well, or they just already suspected our veracity.
The
reception of our untruthfulness had a huge impact on me. The fact that after
being deceived and tricked day after day for weeks they would still like us
dumbfounded me. Of course it was all done in good spirit but that is beside the
point. When in a community, great things happen. Lives are changed, invincible
bonds are made, but most of all, character flaws are overlooked. It is no
longer about what a person can or cannot do, but about what you can do for
them. I will never forget the relationships I made with those incredible
individuals. The imagination of two young rabble-rousers incited a change in my
heart that is inestimable. Gordon's Giblets changed my life.
