Stephanie Ericsson The Ways We Lie Essay

Stephanie Ericsson begins her explorative essay, “The Ways We Lie,” with a personal anecdote of all the lies she fabricated in one day. She told her bank that a deposit was in the mail when it was not, told a client that the traffic had been bad when she was late for other reasons, told her partner that her day was fine when it was really exhausting, and told her friend she was too busy for lunch when she just was not hungry, all in the course of a day. She shifts from talking about herself to talking about everyone, claiming that all people lie, exaggerate, minimize, keep secrets, and tell other lies. But, like herself, most still consider themselves honest people. She describes a week in which she tried to never tell a lie; it was debilitating, she claims. Furthermore, telling the truth all the time has serious consequences. She postulates that lying, though a form of hedging, must have some merit. She cites a broad definition of a lie from Webster’s dictionary, and asserts that this definition includes many types of lying.
She narrows in on a specific type of lie in the next section of the essay: the white lie. She defines a white lie as a vote of no confidence, or a liar deciding what is best for the person they are lying to. Many people don’t realize

She says that everyone puts up facades, herself included. For instance, clients might think that she is dressed in a suit when they talk to her on the phone, but she is really only dressed in sweatpants. Though ubiquitous, she claims, this form of lying can be destructive, as it seduces others into an image that the liar has created, usually of themselves. She supports her claim with a personal experience with a man that she thought she could count on as a friend. He always seemed kind, funny, and insightful, and when he found himself in a bad financial situation, she loaned him money. But when it came time to pay her back, he refused to return the