Lying

Authors Note: I wrote this essay to show a valuable lesson that I learned when I was younger.


"Tommy!" Mrs. Calvin yelled, "Keep your eyes on your own paper!"

"I was just looking at the clock!" Tommy lied, he had forgotten to study the previous night and didn't know any of the answers on the test.

"I'll see you after class Mr. McDonald!"

Tommy rolled his eyes at his Math teacher. Mrs. Calvin saw him and told him he would have to call his parents too. After class Tommy had a conversation with Mrs. Calvin about how cheating is wrong and he shouldn't do it, but what she was really worried about was that he lied to her.  That's all he heard before he stopped paying attention because he had heard this conversation multiple times from different teachers. He was probably more used to staying after class and having detentions than an average student. When his parents were called Tommy was supposed to tell them what he had done wrong. He told his parents a different lie. He told them that he had heard something fall across the room so he looked up. His parents knew that he was lying and told him they would have a discussion when he was done with school. If Tommy hadn't lied the situation would been resolved a lot easier and Tommy would have been in a lot less trouble. Lying is the most harmful way of getting out of trouble.

I was taught at a very young age not to lie. In my house it was, and still is very clear that lying is not acceptable. My dad's number one rule is if you do something wrong, to tell him because the punishment will be less than if I lied. I know that if I lie to my parents and they find out, their trust we will be gone, and hard to get back. You won't know how important the gift of trust is until it's gone.

How does lying help you? It doesn't. You may think lying helps you get "off the hook," that's a lie. Lying makes your whole conflict more complicated and harder to resolve. If you tell a lie it can spread. It may spread to the person the lie was about or it could result in hurt feelings or consequences. What would you do if someone told a lie about you to get themselves out of trouble? When you lie it can be harmful to you and anyone around you.