The value of honesty

When it comes to lies, everybody is involved because in one way or another we all must have told lies about something before, even though we might not want to admit it, but it’s true anyway.

No one has or will ever agree that they lied intentionally because we all lie for some reason; it is either to save someone or to save ourselves from getting into trouble, and mostly everyone that lies does it for their own benefit.

No matter how important the issue is or how dangerous it is to tell the truth, a lie is a lie. Big or small, knowingly or unknowingly, once you tell lies, you have become a liar automatically.

the image is mine

One thing about telling lies is that once you lie to someone about something, you have to cover it up with another lie gradually, and before you realize it, you have turned into a good liar, and you might not even remember where you started the lies from, and still there is no turning back.

Now, to answer the prompt question, there is nothing to justify telling lies to someone, no matter how bitter the truth is. Once you embark on the journey to tell lies, then you shouldn’t justify it with anything.

When I was little, I was the quietest kid in the house and, of course, among my peers then, but when I do something, people don’t believe I did it, which I will never tell the truth about because I love the fact that people look at me with innocent eyes and my siblings are the ones getting punishment for whatever I did.

One day I stole some meat from my mom’s egusi soup, and after eating it, I washed my hands with soap and water because I knew my mom too well to know what she could do to catch whoever stole the meat.

She asked as usual, and she sniffed our hands to find out who ate the meat among us. Unfortunately, my twin sister’s hands still smelled of egusi because she didn’t wash her hands in the morning after eating, so she took all the punishment for me.

the image is mine

I was a child, and I knew what I did was wrong, but seeing how angry my mom was, I couldn’t tell her the truth that I ate the meat, more so because she wouldn’t believe or ever think her quiet and innocent child would do such a thing.

Later I told my twin sis that I was the one who ate the meat, but it was too late because she had already been bitten by my mom. She was surprised too, and she promised herself to always wash her hands after eating so that such a thing will not repeat itself again. Till today I never told my mom that I lied because I didn’t want her to hate me or not trust me again, so I had to deny stealing her meat to save myself.

But as an adult, we should know how to be polite with the truth, even though it might hurt who you are telling, but nothing can replace the truth for real. The truth is bitter, they say, but still lying to someone is never an excuse or something we should justify.