Editor�s Note

I think that all of us can agree that things like lying and cheating are bad. As kids, most of us are taught that you shouldn�t lie or cheat, and if you do, you should feel really bad about it. When you get caught, you should apologise and be embarrassed. At some point, most of us realise that it�s easier to avoid all of the bad stuff about lying and cheating by simply not lying or cheating in the first place. But not everybody seems to learn this lesson.

There are some people who, even when they�re caught lying and cheating, insist that they�ve done nothing wrong. For whatever reason, these people believe that their lying and cheating can be justified.

For example, imagine that you and a bunch of other people have been invited over to a friend�s place to play some games. Now, this friend has kind of a bad reputation for sometimes not being very nice to the rest of their family and is considered by some of the neighbours to be kind of a bully. But you�re willing to give your friend the benefit of the doubt.

Your friend has made a huge effort to make sure that their place is fixed up well so that all the guests enjoy themselves. They�ve tried to clean up, arranged for some great entertainment and made sure that all the spots where you and the other guests might want to play are really nice.

But once you get to your friend�s place, you start to discover that not everything is what it at first appeared to be. Right away your host does some things that, while not technically against the rules, certainly aren�t truthful.

After that, there starts to be some grumbling by one of the other guests that the host might have cheated at one of the games � a game that your host won. While stories continue to spread about the possible cheating, in the end it�s almost impossible to prove anything for sure.

So, what to do? Do you moan about life being unfair? Do you complain to your host, who insists that they did nothing wrong? Do you leave in a huff?

More likely than not, rather than causing a big stink and possibly insulting your host � who has, after all, thrown a really good party, all things considered � you keep your mouth shut and try to enjoy yourself. After all, nobody wants to be a bad guest. And it is just a game, after all.

But if the no-lying-or-cheating lesson is one that you learned well when you were a kid, the next time your friend invites you over, you might decide to be a little less trusting. You might even decide that it�d be less trouble to just stay home.

Sean Vale
Editor
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