When is it okay to tell a lie?
By AnjaP
@Rollo1 (16679)
Boston, Massachusetts
August 12, 2007 8:37am CST
You find yourself in a sticky situation and telling the truth may have consequences. Is it ever okay to tell a lie? Do you ever profit by a lie or does the lie do damage to your character and hurt you more in the long run? Have you ever told a lie that came back to haunt you?
4 responses
@rachelnextdoor (187)
• United States
12 Aug 07
I believe everyone lies. Most people do it for non-malicious reasons: they just want to save themselves some heart-ache or they can't face the consequences of telling the truth. I'm not sure how society would function without this type of lying to grease the wheels, so to speak. We would be incredibly neurotic if constantly faced with the unvarnished truth.
I'm terrible at lying. Basically, I'm too lazy to think up anything totally convincing and then put my weight behind it. Mostly, I find it easier to avoid the truth without inserting anything to fill its place. Spinning things, I guess.
If you get caught, it can damage your reputation, but that's where most of the danger of lying lies: in getting caught.
I have never had anything come back to haunt me, or at least nothing so major that it comes to mind immediately, but when I was a kid, I rewrote some things that happened in school to avoid the wrath of my parents. I still have to remember what's true and what's been doctored when I talk to them, and that's...annoying.
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
12 Aug 07
I too, am terrible at lying. I like the spin concept, that is mostly my tactic. When asked a difficult question, hedge and avoid. To always tell the absolute truth, as you say, could cause a lot of problems and avoid hurting others. But I can't lie either, so whenever possible, try to avoid the things you don't want to lie about. It never feels good to lie and if you don't, you don't have to remember which lie you told.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
14 Oct 15
It may be easy to state that lying is never the right thing to do, but on occasions we all have good reasons to lie. The deciding factor should be to lie only for the best reasons and not for personal gain etcetera.
Very few people would tell a very sick person that they did not have much chance of surviving, so lying is the considerate thing to do. Everyone lies to their children, telling them about Santa Claus for example. It would be very unkind to tell a young child the truth and destroy the magic of childhood.
@zdh987562 (263)
• China
12 Aug 07
when i don’t want to hurt someone i tell a lie .it was horrible when you tell the truth hurt someone.one time,i told my friend that her words was hurt her best friend that their friend was over for that.she cried .
i think we may tell a lie when it proper.
