~ Morality ~

© Margaret Emerson
Published in Qi Journal, summer 2007

     It was just another lie. I was in the third grade, talking to a girlfriend in the school hallway. I lied a lot. But this time, for some reason, another me was standing off to the side and watching. I saw myself lying and asked myself why. In this instance the truth would have been just as good, I noticed—there wasn’t even any real advantage to me in lying. I don’t remember what the lie was about, but that moment is a bright, indelible freeze-frame that marks the beginning of trying not to lie, seeing if I could stick with the truth instead.

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