Liars

Liars are everywhere. Turn on the TV, you will see an advert telling you that you need a certain hair product, or fashion item. That is a lie, you do not need those things unless human survival now depends on something more than food, water and shelter. A lot of the time people will tell lies about who they are, just to impress or to try and improve who they are in your eyes. And if you are playing the board game diplomacy, you will be surrounded by them.

This is not a very good thing. Lying is a very harmful thing. It betrays the trust of others, distorts the truth, and ultimatley causes great hurt. This cannot be good for the individual or the society. If an individual trusts a person who is lying to them, they will be manipulated, used, relying on a false ally for support and friendship: they will believe false things (and it is a fundamental point of logic that knowing the truth is better) which will lead to them making bad desicision, which in themselves may damage others: but most importantly, it can leave a mistrust of others, a broken, emotionally scarred person who will be less open in the future. Imagine a society filled with this kind of behaviour, it too would be broken, living in individualism, a lack of cohesion and friendship, with everyone looking out for themselves and not trusting another.

This cannot be good at all, because the whole idea of society relies on the trust of a group of peoples on one another to fulfill different roles, and that harm will not be done to one another. Of course, some people will abuse this, but on the whole we trust that the majority of individuals will be trustworthy. Indeed, governments, businesses, banks etc. all work on premises that the people they work with are telling the truth. Evidence of this is that the 2008 economic collapse arose because certain european companies were conned by subprime morgtage dealers in america (simplistic way of putting it).

As we can see lying is corrosive. It poisons communal spirit. But why should that stop those who lie from further lying. A lot of the time it can be quite profitable. If you can get one over on a rival, then you have more chance of fulfilling your desires. And in this society, success, sex, money, power are all things which are hard to come by. If you can achieve these things by lying to a few people, then it does not really matter, its good. And although it can destroy friendships, you will make a great deal more friends when you are rolling in the dough, whilst your victim is still bottom of the pile. Lying is for the winners, for the kings, for the glorious.

However, lying is a self-destructive force which ravages not just the lied too but the liar themself. Joseph Ratzinger, also known as Pope Benedict XVI, use to teach at many prestigious universities. One of his subjects were the effects of actions on our being as a person. Now many people in the 20th and 21st Centuries live lives where they believe that there short-term actions do not effect themselves as 'good people'. However, this view just does not work. What we do in our actions does effect our personalities, our characters, the things Aristotle called the Soul (not Plato's), our mental capacities. It is no surprise that this view that so many people hold has resulted in higher levels of depression, higher levels of social problems, people with lower self-esteem, lower levels of happiness in wealthier countries. This is because their harmful actions in the short-term have been embedded into their subconcious elements. Lying is such a thing which people just do, because they think it will not effect who they are. But in fact it can destroy the person you are, leaving you untrusting, unloving and low self-esteem. It rips you apart and leaves you and empty shell, removing the intrinsic beauty of humanity and love.

I write this not as one who judges those who lie, I myself used to do it all the time. But I have also felt the pain lies, and now realise the error of my ways. Wanting good for others for no selfish reasons, forgiveness, trust, hope, generosity, these are all things which if embraced lead to a life lived to its full value. Lies shatter this greatness, like a bolt of lightening and leaves a broken person. I forgive those who have lied to me, but I myself am not so much sad at my trust being betrayed but at the void of a person who felt it necessary to lie to me. And I commend the notion that we live in a society of truth, trustworthiness and togetherness as opposed to the lie, loniless and lacking of this kind of lifestyle.

So if you lie, do not be worried about your past wrongs. But turn it around today, confess yourself to your victims and now live a life of trust. If not for others, for yourself, do it.