Erik Matisek
Ms. Servais
English 1A, MW 1:30-3:30
November 17, 2008
Lies and Honesty
If it is true that dishonesty is the direct response to telling a lie then nobody should be considered honest. Everybody lies at some points in their lives, whether it is only once in hundreds of days or fifteen times a minute. Unfortunately, lying has turned into an important aspect in the routines of everyday life, so can it really be said that anybody who lies is no longer honest? There are so many versions of lying; it is sometimes necessary to prevent problems from occurring or escalating, to boost self-esteem in the eyes of the beholder, and to help others. Many reasons for lying are not under bad intentions therefore lying is acceptable and dishonesty only comes from excessive abuse.
What is considered lying nowadays? Exaggeration is a lie. Even if someone changes a minor detail of a story to make it more interesting and keep the audience’s attention it is still a lie. It is rare that anybody would call out someone as dishonest for barely blemishing a story, but then there are some people who constantly feel the need to use exaggeration as a means to receive attention. Everyone has heard the stories that just seem to ridiculous to believe. It is funny how all these stories seem to happen to the same few people too; it’s those stories about how some guy was out in the ocean catching some waves when suddenly out of nowhere a fifteen foot great white shark comes out of the water and brushes up against his leg. When people here these type of stories over and over again from the same person it is pretty clear to see that they are not honest. Many accounts of exaggeration is just one way to consider someone dishonest.
Another type of lying is the simple act of not telling the truth, but not making up false excuses. Hiding a secret is lying nonetheless. Let’s say some guy knows that his best friend’s girl is cheating on him. He would be lying to his friend if he did not tell him the information he knows. Although he is not making up something that did not happen he is still not telling him the truth. That is a lie, and something to this extreme would consider the friend dishonest. Just because a secret is kept does not mean they are dishonest though. If a child told a friend who she secretly crushes on and the friend does not tell anyone it does not make the friend dishonest. There are many different levels of honesty. If it could be put into a scale of one to ten the first probably four levels would be considered normal and acceptable and would not make the person dishonest. After it starts to get at a more extreme point people start to notice and think of them as dishonest.
It is true that problems are caused by lying, but it is also true to say that lying can get many people out of trouble. There are some people who can use lying as a way to manipulate those with power. Some people are able to talk their way out of a speeding ticket, and others, with the help of money, can even get away with murder. Both the speed racers and murderers are not honest, but to them being dishonest is a good trait that keeps them out of jail and not paying fines. If a girl buys a new jacket and wears it around every day and simply adores it many of her friends are not going to tell her that it does not look good on her even if that is what they believe. Lying is a way to avoid confrontation in many ways, and for the most part little lies, such as saying that jacket looks good on you, are not going to make the liar feel or appear dishonest.
Not all lies are directed towards other people. Some are people that look at themselves in a lie just to protect their own feelings. It works both for people believing they are beautiful when in fact they look like a dinosaur and for people who think they are hideous when really they are gorgeous. Lying to yourself is really never helpful because it takes away the opportunity to fix what is lacking. A good way to see someone who lies to themselves as dishonest is to go to the extremes, such as skinny people who are bulimic or anorexic. Supposedly it could go the other way too about fat people who eat a lot because they still believe they are not overweight, but that is just not really as common. Not only do people lie to themselves about the way they look but they lie about their attitudes. Some people think they are nice to everyone they meet, but most people may seem them as giving off bad vibes or even being a jerk to a lot of people. Whether they are just blind to their attitude or simply tell themselves that they cannot be mean they are lying, and with many cases it means they are not honest.
(not quite finished)
