Is Cheating that bad?

by Jess

I had been told and saw a lot of lies. It seemed to me that telling a lie was no longer a question of morality, as it has become a kind of skill which could be improved through training upon matters of life. So, try to take it easy when you are going to cheat or have been cheated by someone else, if it was not a too harmful one. By getting used to coping with cheating, we find out gradually that whenever there was a demand, there was a supply. In fact, if mother had not told me a story of cheating in my aunt's family, I would have been convinced that my uncle had miraculously turned over a new leaf.

My uncle was a notorious gambler in the neighborhood. Nothing interested him more than gambling. He saved every cent to play for high stakes, and my aunt was always furious at him since the money he took back home was hardly enough to support a simple family of six members. No matter how much worse their relationship had become, they managed to carry on their lifeless marriage even if everyday he slammed the door in her face and she wept bitterly in front of their children. One day, a big cheating entered their life and everything calmed down. Nothing was ever so sweet before.

At that time my uncle was having an affair with a woman, and of course he tried every means to hide it from my aunt. Yet in fact, the whole world knew about it. To everyone's surprise, my aunt did not expose the fraud, as according to her, she wanted to prevent the family from falling apart. She did so by cheating everyone including herself that nothing happened. From then on, my uncle treated her far better and they did not quarrel again. It was said that he did so in order to repay her kindness for not accusing him of his unfaithful behavior. They read each other's minds but they kept on pretending and enjoyed the act. Eventually, peace had for the first time descended upon their family.

The outsiders were to say this was a better-off family, because the children had no more nightmares, the wife seemed happier now as her husband brought less trouble back home and he gave more money. It was cheating that pulled together the family, and the lie had brought happiness to every member of the family.

I therefore realized, to those who are unwilling to face the reality and are afraid of changes in life, cheating is sometimes badly needed to grasp the little hope left to them.

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