A Reason to Lie

As a child I was in awe of my parents and I would say a wee bit petrified too. There was no way one could get away with misconduct of any kind. A round of spanking and punishment was always in order. Given how strict they were I had no option but to become creative in cooking up lies and excuses--- homework not done, money stolen, spilled milk, a poor report card, scribbling on the walls were all good enough reasons to blatantly lie. Both, my parents and my moral science teachers drilled into my little head the dire consequences of lying . But who cares, if it saves your skin then it is the right thing to do! As I grew up these well embedded seeds of values had taken sprout. Lying was hardly an exercised option. I was proud to be upholding my morals, more so on occasions where one could have easily got out of a sticky situation by a harmless white lie. So ingrained was this value, that I if my parents defaulted inadvertently, I wouldn’t hesitate to wield the moral stick. This morning I caught myself lying to my father albeit with a little bit of hesitation. A tinge of regret was followed by a clear rationale –that of saving my parent from the unnecessary hassles of life. I've moved from lying to protect myself to being righteous to now lying to protect my parent!!!As they say life comes a full circle.