THE TRUTH ABOUT LIES

Why do people lie?  There is a simple answer: because it’s easy!

People lie every day for all kinds of reasons. Most people lie to protect themselves and to cover for their mistakes.  Virtually everyone does it, I know I do.   But some people may lie more than others and some people are better liars than others, but everyone is guilty of lying at one point or another.  When it comes to lying there is no gender difference, men lie no more than women, and almost everyone lies at work.

Most people learn to lie at a very early age, and continue lying their entire lives.  Starting at an early age children will lie to avoid getting into trouble, and when it comes to dodging punishment, most kids are expert liars; I know that for a fact, I have three boys.   

We all know it is wrong to lie, yet, we learned early not only the benefits but also the necessity of lying.  By the time most people are adults, lying is second nature to us, it is just another human trait, so don’t feel bad if you told a little white lie today.

Sometimes lying is the best approach for protecting your privacy.  Some deception, such as boasting and lies in the name of tact and politeness, can be classified as less than serious. A little white lie never hurt anybody, they are even considered socially acceptable.   So you see, not all lies are harmful.  Our parents taught us that lying was bad but we saw them doing it, and at some point they even encouraged us when we were little to tell someone a lie. For example, “Tell Aunt Bertha she looks pretty today,” when you knew she didn’t, or “don’t tell your dad how much I spent on these shoes.”   Leaving out the truth or putting in something false is still considered lying, those can be harmful if you get caught.  That person will lose all trust he or she had in you. 

Lying is considered wrong, but when it comes to avoiding trouble, saving face in front of the boss, or sparing someone’s feelings, many people find themselves doing it anyway.   We often lie to make ourselves more desirable to other people too, and other times when our self-esteem starts to decline, we even lie to ourselves as means to prevent loss of morale. 

Ok, so now that we have established that we all do it, why do we lie? Sure, lying can be both useful and sometimes even fun to embellish a little and stretch out the truth, yet there are fundamental reasons why we lie, but the main culprit behind our lies is “Fear,” our own insecurities are the foundation of why we lie to each other. There is the Fear of harm, Fear of conflict or having an argument, Fear of punishment, Fear of rejection, and the Fear of loss.  

There are also selfless reasons why we lie, we do it when we want to help our friends and loved ones, or when we want to flatter someone just to make them feel better.

Then there is the bald-face lie or the big fat lie, the most harmful lie of all and that is when it is done with the malicious intent to gain something or deprive someone of something.  In many cases, this form of lying is no different than stealing or taking another's life, but many still seem to do it regardless of the outcomes of hurting someone or depriving them of something.  But why do people do it?  Have they no shame?  Many couples do this to cheat on their spouse. Many thieves do this to steal others' belongings and other individuals do this to control the minds of people to get them to do what they want them to do.  But whatever the reason these individuals may have for these types of deceptive, misleading and dishonest lies, it is just plain wrong!   Not only society see these liars as low life scum but their deceptive gain actions constitute fraud, cheating or stealing, which are considered to be white-collar crimes.  

So, what kind of things do you lie about?  Come on now, be honest!