Brandon Eversgerd
Right Speech Experiment

If I learned anything from this Right Speech Experiment it is how often I deviate from the truth. Whether it’s exaggerating a story or holding out a small, yet crucial, part of a story or explanation, I seem to do this quite often. I also tend to, from The Truth About Lies video, “try and fit in/be apart of the group” by not telling them, in depth, about particular aspects of my life. I seem to lie, not big lies, but none the less lies, pretty consistently and ¾ of the time I don’t even think about that im doing it.

Just this weekend, while working at Waterway (Car Wash), I sucked up someone’s cup-holder lining and instead of telling them I did so, I insisted on not telling them because I thought they might not tip me as much or not even tip me at all. While this is completely dishonest, it got me my money and I moved onto the next car, not even stopping to think about that I just lied to a customer. This was not the honest thing to do, yet it was the easiest thing to do. I didn’t want to have to shut down all the vac lines, go search in the vac buckets to find her lining, and then go give it to her, all while disrupting the entire car wash, so I told a simple little lie. Granted I did know this was wrong and that I should tell her, I didn’t want to, so I lied, simple as that.

St. Clement Youth Group/my Faith is pretty much the biggest part of my life. I attend Youth Group every Wednesday and Sunday and am consistently going on retreats through either St. Clement or Incarnate Word Youth Ministry. With this being said, it should be very easy for me to admit this to people, as this is what I love the most. No, that is not the case. Many times, people will ask me what im doing tonight at school, and instead of telling them, “Oh, I am going to St. Clements youth night,” I say, “Oh, I have plans already” or something along those lines. Technically not lying, I am deviating from the truth in that I should honestly tell them what I am doing. It would be a testament to my faith and going against the flow of common lifestyles today (that many people are not into their faith as much as they should be/“Think its stupid…all the youth group stuff”) by not denying my strong Faith in God.

This experiment has really made me realize how much I lie, simple as that. I constantly catch myself lying to friends or parents or cheating in any kind of way. Also it has taught me how much I don’t admit that im a “Jesus freak” as they call them these days, and that I need to be stronger in my Faith and just learn to not care what people think of me. Knowing that im lying/hiding the truth, I still am dishonest in several aspects of my life.