The “Truth” and Lies

As I grew up in this world, I was told that the “truth” was significantly better than a lie. This idea was wrapped inside my mind so much that it became innate by the time I began middle school. For my whole life, I have always been a terrible liar because I have been taught that it isn’t the right thing to do. However, growing up as a naive little girl, I never realized that the “truth” is way more complicated than the surface of the word seems. How do we know if what we are being told is the truth?

In a short, complete answer, we don’t. It is as simple as that. The truth, in today’s world, seems to be what we, as a society, agree upon. If we all agree that the sun will die someday, then that is the truth. Beyond facts and evidence, it really is based upon what we take from the information we are given. In our world, there is a vast amount of disagreements between people and groups of people. Even when you throw in visual evidence of your claim, it still won’t be enough for the other side to take that information as the “truth.” From this, however, being skeptical about everything can become a dangerous cycle. If you can’t believe what one person says about a certain idea, that could turn into a hundred people. When you look at this beginning of the cycle, you would think that these people are crazy and can’t be trusted. But, are they crazy for thinking this way? This is where the cycle comes back around, ready to take another spin at the dangerous world of truths and lies.

Another concept that I want to touch upon is the benefits of a lie. When we look at the word “lie”, we see words like “deceiving” and “bad” alongside it. However, that isn’t always the case. Sometimes lying to yourself can be the thing you need the most.

I grew up as a very humble person, another trait my parents made sure I was taught at a young age. It has helped me become a better person and making friends for sure, but it has definitely affected my confidence in a negative way as well. When I started to play sports, my parents noticed that I wasn’t too bad at them. I picked things up quickly and loved to practice skills and drills. It wasn’t until the end of elementary school that my confidence had plummeted to an all- time low. Even though my parents kept reassuring me that I was a good player, part of me would block them out and ignore their, what I believed, fallacies. I started to play competitively, but my drive to play the sport was slowly fading away. My brother, who also plays sports, noticed this in me and sat me down to talk. He explained to me how he had felt this way as well and what he did to overcome it. “Act like you are the best player on the field.” “Act like you belong because no girl out there is going to know whether you actually do or don’t.” Those were probably the cockiest sentences I have ever heard, but also the best thing I never knew I needed to hear. After that, I started to play with more confidence. In return, I played better and it was apparent to everyone, including myself for once. I started to be less intimidated by the girls who were really good athletes which in the end, helped and pushed me to become the best player that I could be. They never knew for a second that I was this scared, intimidated girl as a put on this persona of myself, filled with confidence and determination.

In conclusion, lying is bad. We all know this from a very young age and we start to realize that we may never know what is true and what is false. However, we can use this unknown to our advantage and build up an aspect of ourselves that we have been lacking, mine being confidence.