Against Lying

Do you know what it feels like to be lied to? If not, consider yourself lucky. Being lied to is not enjoyable, it evokes emotions of disappointment, disloyalty, and unworthiness. Although many people may say that they lie with the best intentions for the other person, they are wrong. Who are we to say that we know what is best for another human? The well being of someone should not be formed with falsity. Telling a lie is selfish, it can make situations worse, lead to more lies, and they affect the feelings of others.
Humans contain the ability to work well with, relate to, and communicate with others, making them social beings. Humans also depend on others frequently: a newborn depends on his/her mother, a restaurant owner relies his/her success on their customers, and a student depends on his/her teacher for knowledge and answers. If we were all selfish beings, how would marriages work? How would babies survive? They would not. No matter where one looks, someone is bound to be present. Life would be impossible without interacting with others. What happens when you lie to someone? When lying to someone, you are simply being selfish. You are most likely trying to dodge conflict or are afraid of the consequences of the truth. Most people think that lying can get them out of difficult situations, making it easier on them, but that is not always the case. Lying can put them into a deeper whole, making the situation worse than if the truth be told.
People’s reactions occur in the spur of the moment; therefore they cannot and should not be predicted. Often times people try to predict the reactions of others when planning a lie. This is not always effective because one’s predictions may not go as planned. When one encounters a bump in the road, overreacting is a possibility. In the process of overreacting, one is not thinking clearly, making them prone to mistakes. These mistakes may force the situation into a much more serious and severe situation or it may force the person to tell another lie.
Lying is like a drug. You tell yourself that you are only going to try it once, but then the high felt so good that you had to do it again. When getting away with a lie, you feel as if you are on top of the world and no one can catch you. After noticing that you did not get caught, an immediate reaction is to try lying again and see how far it goes this time. Eventually overtime all those lies accumulate, and your entire life would be based on lies. For example, when meeting a member of the opposite sex, one tends to lie about their age. After lying about their age, they automatically have to lie about what year in school they are in. Depending on how big of a difference there is between the ages, they have to lie about where they reside and their occupation. If a lasting relationship is then desired, sooner or later the truth must be told. As stated previously, being lied to is not enjoyable and one’s sentimental feelings will be impaired.
Unless you rejoice in another’s pain, lying is not recommended. The worst part about being lied to is finding out about the lie. An immediate reaction is to doubt everything that has come out of the liar’s mouth, making it impossible to ever trust that person again. Realizing that someone you once thought was deserving of your trust had completely taken that for granted, damages the person emotionally. Feelings that one is not worth the truth overcomes and a guard is put up, a guard attempting to protect one’s feelings from ever getting hurt again. Being lied to is not something that is easy to get over, and after being lied to continuously it begins to affect the person in many ways, making friendships and relationships much harder to develop.
In our society, lying has been made into something that is acceptable. It has been made so acceptable, that finally when someone is not lying, it seems imperative for one to say either “real talk,” “true story,” or “I swear” at the end of a true statement. Is it fair to believe that when “real talk” is not added, that the statement said is false? We are living in a society where lying is being endorsed, challenging us and making it difficult to tell the truth. These lies affect negatively the lives of not only the person being lied to but also the person lying. So next time you lie, think about how much easier it will be to tell the truth.