Geographical Characteristics?

What causes someone to make another person believe they are someone they aren't? This has been a reoccurring theme in my life since I have moved to Chicago. You can't tell me that everyone has this undying passion for acting, so that they absolutely can't resist performing all the time. A friend of mine said to me-in a place with so many aspirations, people want to believe they have aspired to become something that they actually haven't.

My boss at my last job managed to convince me for 8 months that she wasn't married. I am not that gullible. And who LIES about being married? Especially a woman? I mean I have known men who don't wear wedding rings so that they can hit on females. But I spent a lot of time both in and outside of work with this woman. She is a small business owner, so there is not much separation between work and personal life for her. And she told me on several occasions that she was not married. And then one day I met her husband. This is when I knew I did not want to work for this person anymore. If she lies about being married, what else is she lying about?

This is not the only occasion in the last year where I've come into close contact with someone, and gotten to a point where I felt I knew them well, only to find out they were not at all who I thought they were. Is this because I am from a small town? Is it because I am so used to knowing who people are, and they usually reamain to be the same for years and years? I wouldn't like to think so.

So when you meet a person, don't you want to just meet them, be in their presence, and enjoy their company without having to second guess them? This is something I may have taken for granted before, but not anyomre. Being able to meet someone and not have to constatnly question who they are is something I take great pride in doing. I have a great appreciation for embracing people's personalities, characters, and lives. How can I continue to enjoy embracing these things when people keep lying about them?

Is it a question of geography, or coincidence? Do more people in Chicago lie, or have I coincidentally had these experiences since moving here? If it is about geography, I am not interested in living here. I want to stay grounded, and genuine. That is who I like to be. How can I stay rooted, and grounded, when so many people I meet are so superficially fake? Enough with the liars. There is no place in my life for liars.