A vise man once said that a liar is afraid of men,
but not afraid of God. What he meant was that, when we tell lies, we do it
because we are afraid of what other people would think of us. or do to u:, if
they knew the truth; but although we know that God reads our hearts and hates
all untruthfulness, we do not mind. We would rat.er please men than please God;
we do not mind offending God by lying, but we are afraid of offending men by
telling the truth.
Fear of men is, then, the first motive for telling
lies. The naughty boy at school tries to escape punishment by lying. “Please, Sir”,
he says to the master, “I did not do it.” The servant who has broken something
is afraid of the master’s anger; so he lies, and says another servant did it.
The child who has stolen some cakes is afraid her mother will punish her; so
she lies and says the rats ate them up. When we have done something silly, and
are afraid people will laugh at it if they find it out, we deny it, and say we
never did it. So liars are generally cowards. It often takes courage to tell
the plain truth. So the proverb says, “Tell the truth, and shame the devil.”
But all lying is not due to fear. People often
tell lies from greed, to get money; or from ambition, to get power and place; or
from desire to get grand and fashionable friends. The dishonest shop man tells
lies when he says his inferior goods are the best on the market, because he
wants to make money quickly. The politician tells lies at elections, to
persuade people to make him a member of the Legislative Assembly. And some poor
people of low birth tell lies by pretending to be rich and related to lords, in
order to get into fashionable society.
Lying is a bad habit; indeed, it is one of the
very worst of bad habits. And it is one that we can easily get into, if we do
not take care. It may pay for a time, but in the end it brings shame,
unhappiness and much sorrow. No one trusts a known liar, and no one wants him
as a friend. Telling the truth pays the best.
A liar is left of no where. No body believes in
him. Nobody respects hi. Wherever he goes, people avoid him. Nobody wishes to
make friends the liars. On the other hand, the truth brings respect to man
everywhere. People love the company of a true man. They are proud of him. That
is why man should always try to speak truth and avoid telling a lie. Telling a
lie is not only bad in this world but also in the world hereafter.