We have all been taught by parents that it is never OK to lie - about anything to anyone. Honesty is always the best policy. Honesty is the foundation to any great relationship.
However, we also hear “never say never.” There’s a time and place for everything - and, as much as you’d love to be honest with your loved ones, sometimes the truth does hurt.
There are certain situations that sometimes require a bit of lying - or, if you’d rather put it, “tweaking” the truth.
For instance, if you’ve received a gift from someone you don’t like, can you really tell them that you like it? If you tell them you like it, you’re lying to yourself. If you tell them the truth that you don’t like it, you’ll hurt their feelings and they may not get you any more gifts again. C’mon, let’s face it. We know it’s wrong to lie, but we do it rather on the fly just because it’s the easiest way to deal with situations where you know lying can be harmless.
Or when a waiter comes to your table at the end of your meal and asks you if you liked the food. What if the food was horrible? Would it be OK in this instance to say “It was great” when in fact it wasn’t? OK, so the waiter didn’t cook your food and you probably wouldn’t hurt his feelings. But you don’t want to be rude, either, and you know complaining to him would do you no good. So you resort to lying and tell your waiter it was a phenomenal meal.
Or when your girlfriend asks you how she looks in a dress. Even if the dress makes her look fat, would you really say it out loud to her? Most of the time, you probably wouldn’t. You’d probably say “You look beautiful, honey.” So lying in this case would just spare her feelings, especially if she’s a weight-sensitive person.
Sure it is usually never OK to lie, but there are definitely appropriate situations where lying can be beneficial to all parties involved.
Like Samuel Butler had said: “Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well.” He’s right. It makes a big difference.
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