It is funny how we tend to manipulate situation to our advantage by telling lies continuously, the thing about lies is that, it doesn't add up. You will have to memorise your made up story and tell more lies to cover up to avoid contradicting yourself. I have always been a principled person and my life have always been guided by one rule, every action begets consequences. Having this in mind, makes it less easy for me to be reckless with my decisions.
Can there be a time that it is acceptable to tell a lie? If I were an average person, I would have said no but based on the experience I have had, life is not black and white. There are times when we tell lies to protect the interest of others, it might seem inappropriate but I believe the truth should not be used to hurt people. I know the truth should matter always but if the truth you are telling, does more harm than good, it might make you reconsider.
I had an experience about 5 years ago, though I have narrated it in a similar prompt but its relevancy still remains because it is the only time I had gone through an experience such this.
I live in a house with a family of six, as the second child of the family I was good with numbers as if I studied commerce before coming to earth. For that reason I was closer to my mum than my siblings because I assisted her in managing the financial affairs of her business. Which means my account was used mostly for her transactions, sometimes she will purposeful keep some funds in my account for safe keeping.
While I was doing my national diploma in gateway polytechnic, she kept about 50k in my account for reasons I wasn't aware of. She told me she will make use of the money by December, We were around August then. During that time it was almost time for us to pay our school fees, I was still expecting mine from my parents.
I had this friend then named Ebenizer, he was my room mate in ND1 till I moved to another community in ND2. His parents at the moment were struggling with their finances which made it difficult for them to cater for his academic needs including school fees. He was at the blink of dropping out because exam was approaching, I took pity on him and offered to help because I felt like I was in the position to do so.
He promised to return the money by September, I had it at the back of my mind that since December was still far from the current month, we will be fine as long as he keeps his promise. I gave him 30k out of the money that was kept in my account to add to the amount he has gathered to complete his school fees. When it was time for me to pay for my school fees my dad sent me 5k to add to the money already in my account for my school fees, he told me he had already spoken to my mom about it. He wasn't aware that I had used out of the money already. I couldn't tell him what I had done, I just nodded "ok" to what he said.
My present situation now seem similar to the mess my friend was and I can't pressure him for the money because the date he promised is still far away. I could have informed my dad or Mom but I didn't want to damage the trust my mum had in me. I sourced around for the money but it wasn't enough to cover for the amount I needed, though I knew it was silly but at the moment my ego was all I had to protect.
On the long run, i found a guy who made me an offer to buy my phone, I was using Infinix hot 4 pro, though the amount he offered was not up to the amount I bought the phone but due to my desperate needs for money, I had no choice but to sell the phone. I was bitter all week because I was "phoneless"😅. My exam was extremely stressful because I had a lot of materials I could have used on my phone but I couldn't, it affected my examination performance a lot.
After the exam, that lasted about 2-3 weeks. I was already preparing for a way to get a new phone with the remaining left over money I got from selling my former phone. So I waited till September in school to get the money back from him and that was how I was able to purchase a new phone and went home.
I never told my parents about it till today but I knew, if I had told them they would have understood and refunded the money which would have saved me from the agony and stress I experienced but the fact is, it would have damaged the trust my mom have in me and I don't know if my parents might decide to reach out to my friend, which feels inappropriate because the mess was not his fault. Do I feel the lie was justified? I believe it does, which is why I wasn't too pained when I find myself paying for the consequence of my action.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled For a cure in hive learners community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
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