The Way We Lie - Free Essay in Psychology

Everything that someone does has consequences whether the act was right or wrong, deception or honesty; there is always a price to pay. Just like Ericsson states in her essay, everyone finds themselves doing something that was not intended to happen or something that will make someone feel better. The purpose of putting the Act is to assist friends, to ignore the current situation and to avoid confrontation and hurting others. A lie is a spirit committing treason against itself (Ericsson, nd). When one lies, it becomes cultural cancer that jeopardizes reality until the moral standards become invisible. As much as this is true, telling a simple lie or a white lie when trying to protect someone from the truth is what Ericsson define as telling a lie without intending to do harm. We all are up-front on the important issues which do not reveal the details that change everything.

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The cost of not telling the truth are the fact that the lies will pile up and catch up with you and there will be no other way out than to continue the lie. There is nothing like telling a good lie even the white lie can never be justified since it is a lie all the same (Cappelen, Sorensen, & Tungodden, n.d.) The consequences of not telling the truth might not be felt instantly but in the long run, it makes the one lied to feel omitted, ignored and not considered. It makes someone be what they are not. I remember last summer how a white lie nearly ruined my life. There is surely no justification for a lie.

At that time, I thought that telling a white lie would display confidence in my best friends life or ease her distress. Little did I know that even that little white lie can destroy my life as well. I thought that lying would keep Jasmine closer to me but it never happened. Withholding information and deciding what is best for someone makes the relationship to be weak and once discovered, it can ruin the trust that was there (Ericsson, nd). The guilt that I was having and the anxiety of being found out was the worst feeling ever. I wished I had not lied about taking the tickets from Jasmine room whereby she was supposed to go out on a movie with a group of girls that I overheard were planning something awful for her. I knew that once she went she will never recover from that evil plan and there was no way I could persuade her not to go. After having self-esteem issues for a while, she was happy to go out and meet new friends. I felt terrible telling her the truth about the matter and the guilt was too much for me to handle.

A white lie always assumes that the truth will cause adverse effects to someone but it is a terrible ordeal where someone holds on to false hopes and to a life that is totally a lie. I made Jasmine delusional to the fact that her life had taken a new turn and that people would not bully her around and they accepted her company. The fact remained that I kept on wondering if she will ever find out or if someone will spill out the beans and tell her that it was all an illusion. The feeling made me have amnesia, stress; I had physical pain and emotional distress. I thought of sparing her life, but I ended up ruining my peace, my health, and the relationship. The bad thing about lying is that when you state, you never stop. One lies until you become a lie yourself.

In conclusion, it doesnt take a lot of time before one tolerates the lie and its effect. The only question remains whether or not to take power on other peoples life and be liars. But if that occur the song will be the same, and one will start with what if I did this and the guilt will continue leaving everything to a mess. The good thing about telling the truth is that no matter how hard it is, one will face it without guilt.

References

Cappelen, A., Sorensen, E., & Tungodden, B. When Do We Lie?. SSRN Electronic Journal. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2143114

Ericsson, S. (n.d.). Why we Lie. 121-129.