Is It Okay to Lie?

     Everyone has told at least one lie in their lives. Some people could argue that they did it with good intentions. Well,  I am here to talk about lying.

Let's talk about cons first. When you lie, you become more likely to lie again, especially if you have to lie later to keep up your charade. For example, you say that your cousin lives in Washington and you are going to visit him over summer break. Then you will be scared for them to see you because they will know you lied. Also, we listen to others’ lies every day. If everyone lies, then how can we trust one another? For example, you can say “Hey! You know what I learned today? I learned that there is only 500 fish species in the ocean.” Your friend looks online and finds there are 33,600 species. How will your friend trust info that you tell them again?

Now pros. You may lie to get out of an uncomfortable situation, to make someone feel better, or to protect them from harm. For example, a teen may be left alone at home and someone knocks on the door and asks if his/her parents are home. The child may say yes to keep themselves safe from potential danger. There are also lots of games where you have to lie or bluff to win. Some examples are poker and the game royal bluff. You have to lie to trick others into losing. Also, how many times has someone asked you how was your day or how are you and you answered “good thank you,” when your day isn’t that good?

 Lying is the way of our society. We lie almost every day. Plus, some lies are harmless. They don’t affect anyone. Imagine that everyone said only the truth? We would seem so grumpy to other societies because we would always say that we are having a bad day.  You may say a white lie which means that it is harmless or better yet, helpful and good. In some countries it is normal to lie and in others it would be considered rude. In Russia for example, people don’t smile to each other as they pass or say good morning or good afternoon. We may think that is rude but they may think we are weird for actually doing that.

Pierce, Maggie. “Is It OK to Lie? | Persuasive Writing | Scholastic Scope Magazine.” Scope.scholastic.com, Oct. 2018, scope.scholastic.com/issues/2018-19/100118/Is-It-OK-to-Lie.html.