The Lies We Tell

Photography by Seantae of SB.PHOTOGRAPHY

Everybody lies. Okay, maybe not every day or even every month, but at some point in your life you have lied. If you are sitting there reading this and shaking your head saying “that’s not true,” well then guess what...you’re a liar.



I don’t think there is a person in the world who can say they have never extended the truth or omitted information when they were telling someone something. Whatever way you put it, it's still considered not being honest, which equates to lying.

Don’t get me wrong when I say everyone lies – I’m including myself in that. I don’t necessarily mean it in a bad way when I call people liars, and at this point I just lost half the people reading this. I do not think lying is entirely a bad thing. Everyone makes this small word into such a big deal. What I would like to know is how come a three letter word can create so much chaos?

The act of telling a lie is not always negative. Everyone is so concerned with the lies people tell or more specifically the parts people don’t choose to tell. We think that if someone we love lies to us, they no longer care and they’ve betrayed us and our trust. The thing is I think you also need to look at the person and take their character into consideration.

Does lying make you a bad person? Honestly, I don’t know. What I do know, or better yet how I choose to look at it is not that the person lied, but the intention behind the lie. Was the person being malicious? Were they trying to hurt you or somehow even the score? Or maybe, just maybe they were trying to make sure you didn’t get hurt. If someone lies to you, but they have good intentions, is that considered acceptable?

Lying in general has negative connotations, but think about it. If a friend or a family member asks you what you think of their new haircut and they seem very satisfied with it, are you going to tell them it’s horrible and ruin their good mood? Technically that’s just your opinion, right? All I’m saying is before you start being a hypocrite and condemning people because they lie to you, go back into your mental log and evaluate all the things you haven’t been 100 percent honest about in the past.

All the “white lies” you’ve told. All the truths you’ve “omitted.” Think about why you did these things. What forced you to commit one of the “worst” acts of mankind and how did you feel about yourself and the situation afterwards? It’s all relative and I suppose it depends on the person, your values, morals and all that jazz.

Me, well I think if you aren’t hurting anyone or setting them up for a monumental failure, if a small altercation in the truth can make someone else happy, why not give them that? Doesn’t everyone deserve to be happy even if it’s only for a little while?