The world is challenging and complicated enough, but the situations are

aggravated by the fact that honesty becomes more and more difficult to accommodate

in the society where lying seems to be a natural and fairly a common occurrence.

Trust, which is the foundation of any kind of relationship, be it personal or

professional, should be what people work on building. A lot of us put premiums on the

trust we give to others and the ones given on us. But on so many instances, we get

disappointed when people break this trust (or we break theirs) by lies. Thus, a survey

is run among young learners to understand better the nature of lying to eventually

come up with recommendations to better the situation.

The respondents in the survey are 15 Grade 7 learners. The questions about

their rate of lying , or how often they lie are given according to categories/instances: 1.

Lying to appear good; 2. Lying so as not to hurt people; 3. Lying to malign others or

put them in bad light; and, 4. Lying to save oneself/for one’s benefits. The results

showed that about 49% of the respondents would lie ALWAYS about simple things just

keep a good image like making up stories to stay in a conversation/just to be

funny,etc.; would do the same sometimes and only about 51% will seldom or not lie for

the same reason. For the purpose of not hurting people, especially loved ones, 23% of

the respondents would sometimes to always lie ; and 77% would not lie just to avoid

hurting people. 23% of the respondents would deliberately lie to put people they hate

in bad light while 77% would not bother telling lies to malign other people. Only about

11% of the respondents would lie for personal gain /benefit (usually material); and

89% would not lie just to be on the advantage. Overall, the average, and for varied
instances, 16.6% of the respondents would lie ALWAYS, 30% OFTEN, 16.7% SELDOM

and 36.7% NEVER.

In answering the question why do people lie, there were ten possible responses

identified and among them, the top five reasons for lying are: 1 to protect one’s self; 2

to impress or appear more favorable; 3. For the benefit of others (especially loved

ones);4 to protect another person , and lastly, 5 as humor.

Lastly, based on the survey conducted the top five reasons why people find it

hard to tell the truth are: (1) To protect a loved one/other people from getting hurt or

from any harm, gaining a total of 87% of responses; (2) People tell lies to avoid

conflicts with 80%; (3) at 3.5 places are responses on people resorting to lies to

maintain good relationship, and telling lies for fun; and lastly, at the 5 th place why

people find it hard not to tell lies is self-preservation (people do not want to be

misjudged or misinterpreted by a number of personal circumstances they refuse to

reveal).

It can be deduced from the survey that, contrary to common belief that people

lie for their own benefits, it was revealed that the most common reasons and motives of

people for lying is their concern for other people, their loved one and their fear of

marring the relationship built with them. To save these people and to save the

relationship, they eventually turn to lying. This may sound a little dismal and

disappointing as everybody knows that an unfortunate event or action cannot be

redeemed by another wrong decision and move.

 Honesty is among the values that are difficult to build as it is often tested during

the time when there are conflicting outcomes. To be honest about good things, good

turn out of events seems nothing. People become dishonest only when they are to tell

negative, bad news or unfavorable facts that may either hurt/harm him or the other

people. This is the real test of honesty – the way people withstand the challenge of

facing really—as bad as it is. The issue therefore is less of not being honest than that

of being strong enough to face adversities. It can also be noted that people who are

dishonest are oftentimes those who are insecure about themselves, their relationships ,

or the way people would look at them/judges them. Honesty , thus, is a by-product

only of a nobler, greater value, that is, one’s sense of security, self-esteem and

confidence. If these values would be developed among young people, they would not

find it too difficult to be honest, no matter what the cause.

 Chart Title
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
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10
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Lie to appear Good Lie to not hurt others Lie to malign others Lie to save oneself

Would lie Would not lie