No One Can Predict The Future

There are a set of standard stories that most kids hear that teach valuable lessons, one of them is “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” I always hated that story. I thought it was horrible that he got eaten in the end because no one believed him. While it might make sense, that people learn to stop believing known liars, I didn’t fully understand the importance of being trustworthy.

I believe that it is important to always tell the truth. Studies show that its estimated that the average person lies three times every ten minutes of conversation either to themselves or to others. I don’t think most people realize that sometimes lies can have a huge impact on other peoples well being.

An old friend of mine, for reasons untold to me, made a serious claim about one of my best friends. It spiraled out of control. Her parents got involved, then the law. I still don’t know why she never admitted to lying. Maybe she was embarrassed, ashamed, or maybe she thought people would be more mad at her if she did tell the truth. It was really bad from my point of view. My best friend, the person she lied about, was devastated. He wasn’t allowed to go anywhere, not even his own house, by himself. He was frustrated beyond belief. He had just turned 17 years old and he needed a babysitter, for his protection. It got to the point where I had to go to court and talk to a lawyer. I would get up in the morning and put on a strong face and pretend that I wasn’t worried, even though I was. I really thought he was going to get arrested and go to jail, because someone decided to cry wolf.

My friend who was wrongly accused has big plans for his life. His goal after high school is to go into the marines and then be a police officer, but if he had gone to jail, that dream would have been smashed. For a while I felt responsible for what happened, because I introduced them. She used to tell me that she had made mistakes before I had met her, and she didn’t want to do anything that would make us not friends anymore. I used to tell her that nothing could come between our friendship. I guess I lied to her because I didn’t know what was to become of us in the future.

That experience taught me the hard way about friendship, and trust, and most importantly how necessary telling the truth is. I lost a few friends, and I lost the simple innocent way of thinking that if you don’t do anything wrong, nothing bad will happen. But I gained a valuable lesson about how little things, can change even larger things. I believe that every day people should try their hardest to be honest, with themselves and others, because no one can predict the future.