Tricks and lies, the basis of human nature. It is the necessity of all lesser beings when it comes to the natural strength of a born being. It is in our blood to lie, every time we come to the decision between telling the truth or the sweet lie, we find ourselves in a strange place. This strange place is called guilt, where some of us, but not all of us, begin to doubt ourselves, whether what we are doing is really right. And for a lot of us, we stop when we walk into this place known as guilt, yet for some of us, we walk.
The Boy in Spring
It was an interesting time, taking care of a child. I didn’t volunteer for it nor was it a job where I earned an extra tip. This was a boy I’d rather not meet, if at all possible, remove from my life indefinitely. He was loud, annoying, a little twerp who didn’t know his place in this world. He screamed like a banshee, and with the energy of an Arabian-bred, he was a little ball of sunshine, except the sunshine, wanted to scorch your flesh and bone.
But, I never had much of a choice, for familial reasons this was a duty; duty is a part of what makes our family trustworthy, and I take my own part in keeping that trust. So I walked to him, with a smile on my face, my eyes wide and bright and my hand outstretched to greet his father’s hand. We clasped our palms, shook our hands, patted the boy and led him into my home.
As per usual, the loudness and his lack of an ability to follow basic rules annoyed me. His voice echoed into the corridors of our house and sometimes I can still hear it echo back. And when his father came to take him home, I brought him downstairs with me… with the same smile, the same wide-eyed expression.
“I hope he didn’t cause too much trouble?”
“Of course! We welcome him anytime.”
When they left, I walked back up the stairs to greet my parents. I asked them the usual questions, why things were necessary and why I needed to endure this personal hell. And their answers were the same as before, the familiar words that I should never forget.
Sometimes we do things not because we want to, but because it brings some kind of benefit. This time the benefits aren’t even for me, but for my parents; yet, as they said, sometimes we just have to do what’s best for business, something that is the best for the family. Our nature to obtain what we desire, our nature to obtain what we want, that is the reason we lie, to save ourselves the troubles, to be lazy. Lying is never too personal, for us, it’s just what’s best for business.
Anderson, David, et al. “Letter: Rental Inspection Programs Are an Admission of Failure.” The Suburban Times, 19 Oct. 2017, thesubtimes.com/2017/10/20/letter-rental-inspection-programs-are-an-admission-of-failure/.
Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Broadway Books, 2010. Print.
Hi Brian! I like your point on, “sometimes we do things not because we want to, but because it brings some kind of benefit.” I believe it’s our nature to do what is best for us. I watched a video, it’s about a teacher giving kids presents they don’t like, but when the teacher asks them whether do they like the present, they all say they do. Even kids lie because they know telling the truth wouldn’t get them any benefit, and please them by saying something they want to hear would get them more benefit. In this book, we see how selfish people are when dealing with their benefit, but do you think is it possible that sometimes people would actually go against their nature, and do something good for others?