Why People Lie
– Writer’s
Group assignment for 9-20-13
Lying has always been a topic of interest for me for one
basic reason: my mother absolutely
prohibited it. She told me my tongue would turn coal black, and fall out. She
told me my soul would go to the eternal fires of hell. She told me she would
beat the stuffing out of me, which to me, was the worst fate of all. So, I
tried very hard not to lie when I was a kid. As a result, I had a somewhat
uneventful childhood, while my friends were all having a ball and sopping up
the joys of unbridled and nearly worry--free youth.
Then, I grew up. Things changed. First, there was college,
back in the dinosaur days before the beauty and ease of computers. How do one
hundred and fifty four freshmen do a 10 page report on The Great 100 Books,
when there are just one set of them in the library? Easy – you lie. “Sorry, but
my car broke down and I couldn’t get to the library in (whatever city).” It didn’t help. My grade was still a great
big “F” for that assignment.
Next lie, to my parents:
“My professor was a total jerk! She lost my paper and refused to give me
the grade I deserved!” Their stony
stares told me my lie fell pathetically flat, but I stood by it, no matter
what.
I just gave a great example of one of the top 3 reasons why
people lie: to avoid trouble. I once
heard that there are mainly 3 reasons why people do lie and they are:
1. To avoid trouble
2. To make oneself seem more important
3. For personal gain
All other lies would come under one of those topics, such as
reason number 1: to avoid trouble can mean to avoid problems in relationships,
or bodily harm, or avoid punishment of
any type, and so on. It can even mean lying to avoid hurting someone’s feelings
– which, of course, could translate out to be troublesome to the liar. It if
means “trouble” in any flavor, the lie falls under reason number 1.
Then, reason 2: to make oneself seem far more puffed up than
he or she is. That can mean lying to appear smarter, or more educated, or more
experienced than one really is. And, it can also mean lying to appear richer
than one actually is. Lying to influence others is also an ear-mark of this
reason, and can have deadly consequences. Just look at most politicians!
Reason number 3 is probably the grand-daddy of them all.
People lie to acquire things more easily, with as little work involved as
possible. A great example of this is cheating on one’s income tax returns. A
very real, yet sad, first cousin to this is stealing – the two go hand in
hand. Example: claiming something
belongs to you when you know it belongs to someone else is a combo sin: lying
and stealing.
I guess my mother was right. I’ve tried to live my life as
honestly as possible, telling little “white lies” hear and there like we all
do. But all in all, she was a very wise woman and I trusted her teaching. And,
to think that at one point in my life, from about age 15 to age 22, I thought she was the dumbest simpleton I
ever knew.
To say otherwise would be a lie.
