The Boy Who Cried Wolf

There was once a young Shepherd Boy who tended his sheep at the foot of a mountain near a dark forest. It was rather lonely for him all day, so he thought upon a plan by which he could get a little company and some excitement. He rushed down towards the village calling out "Wolf, Wolf," and the villagers came out to meet him, and some of them stopped with him for a considerable time. This pleased the boy so much that a few days afterwards he tried the same trick, and again the villagers came to his help. But shortly after this a Wolf actually did come out from the forest, and began to worry the sheep, and the boy of course cried out "Wolf, Wolf," still louder than before. But this time the villagers, who had been fooled twice before, thought the boy was again deceiving them, and nobody stirred to come to his help. So the Wolf made a good meal off the boy's flock, and when the boy complained, the wise man of the village said:

"A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth."

Lying was a habit since I was a child. During my primary school days I use to lie to my parents to buy magazines and junk food. The worst part of it was stealing stuff from 7-11 and selling them in school to have more money to spend. I got caught several times stealing and lying from my parents and punishment was painfully memorable.

The moral of the fable was learned the hard way when my parents doubted me even when I started to tell the truth and stopped lying. I only discovered that being honest has it's rewards as I continued to be truthful and my parents began to trust me. After all telling the truth is way much easier then lying.

Growing older now, lying is a whole new level. We lie to gain attention, acceptance, to maintain a secret or reputation, protect someone's feelings or to avoid a punishment. Fabrication, Bluffing, Misleading, Exaggeration, White lies, Noble lies..., all Deceptive. When gray areas surface, tolerance happens. Do we still believe a lie is still a lie?

There can be two alternative consequences of lying: it may be discovered or remain undiscovered. When a lie is discovered, the state of mind and behavior of the liar is no longer predictable. Is telling the truth not that hard after all?