From a young age we are told to tell the truth. The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
That telling lies is wrong and the honesty is always the best policy. But, as with most things, as we get older we find out for ourselves that this isn't always the case.
Frankly, if we told the truth all the time, this world would most likely be in a worse off state then it is now. That's saying something.
Yes, whilst lies can destroy something, the truth can also do this. I shall use an example from Glee. Rachael only found out this week that Finn slept with Santana and to cut a long story short they broke up because they decided no more secrets/lies and Rachael admitted to kissing Puck. Rachael was in the wrong but perhaps if what had Finn had done was kept hidden from Rachael they would still be together. We all have a past.
I'm not suggesting that lying is something we should do all the time but one little white lie can't hurt, can it?
A lie can prevent you from really hurting someones feelings, perhaps be slightly less economical with the truth as opposed to telling a full blown lie but if you know it will cause more damage then its worth, then is the truth always the best option?
Lying can be the lesser of both evils.
Maybe we just shouldn't put ourselves in situations where lying might be necessary.
But hey, we're all human.
'Maybe we just shouldn't put ourselves in situations where lying might be necessary' - this. If someone has to lie to you to continue to be your romantic other half/BFF/friend, then the logical conclusion is that they have done things bad enough for them to not deserve to be. Of course, in most situations the problems are only caused when the lying or betrayal is asymmetrical - two people who both do not lie to eachother and two people who always lie to eachother are equally suited. It's the one-way lies that sting.
ReplyDeleteDoes it honestly matter, though? One of my friends recently said to me, quite out the blue, "If you knew every minute thing I thought about you, there's no way we'd be friends." - at which I found it quite easy to scoff. I DO quite frequently tell them every minute thing that I think about them. I wish people would more with me, it takes a good friend to not call you out on your errors, or to lie to you about them, but it takes a great friend to know to point them out to you when they're in your blind spots, and to know how to do so without making you feel utterly useless. Lies serve to paper over the cracks for when relationships / friendships aren't that great, but I'd again assert that if two people are truly matched, lying isn't the answer.
We're all human, but as humans we're guilty as much of aspiration as we are of sin.