by Carissa Johnson

Created on: November 17, 2009   Last Updated: November 18, 2009

Honesty, also defined as truthfulness or integrity. It can make or break relationships, and if not used in every situation, can get us into immeasurable trouble. Allow me to explain from personal experience what happens when honesty is not regarded the best policy.

It was my senior year. I was sixteen years old, and as we all know, at that age the emotions go through the roof-especially when it comes to every stereotypical girl's favorite topic: Boys.

So there was this boy; I'll call him Ryan for now. I really liked Ryan, and once my best friend did some snooping, I discovered that Ryan liked me, too. I'll never forget the excitement that fluttered up inside me when I found this out. We hit off and soon enough, our Facebook relationship was official and we were boyfriend and girlfriend.

One problem: My ultra-conservative parents didn't know. I lied to them, telling them we were just friends. And this was the start of the lies - the many, many lies. I talked to them about the concept of this high school thing we call "dating," but I got the drift that they weren't a big fan of it. They liked Ryan, but they didn't like the idea of me dating. Oh, and Ryan was under the impression this whole time that my parents were just fine with me dating. I think the lie total is at 2 right now.

Lie #3 showed up on our first date. It was a double date with Ryan's best friend and a mutual acquaintance. But my parents thought that it was a "group of friends" going to the movies... and Ryan still had no idea that they disapproved of dating.

Long story short, the final kicker was about three months later when we wanted to go on another date - a single date this time. Knowing my parents wouldn't let me, I told them that my best friend and a bunch of others would be going to the movie with us. That night, as I was at the movie with Ryan, my mother called my best friend's mother and found that she was working at church... not at the movie. Whoops.

In the end, what could have been a really amazing relationship turned out to be one that harbored lying and deceptiveness-all hinged on my stupid decisions. It cost me the relationship, but I learned the lesson the hard way. Lies catch up with us, so the best policy is to avoid getting into the mess in the first place. The only way to assure that we will avoid trouble is by being honest from the beginning, and never compromising that moral by lying, no matter how small. The truth will set you free - and your lies will find you out.

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