Writing Feedback / Is it always essential to tell the truth, or are there circumstances to lie? [5]

Prompt:
"A little inaccuracy saves a world of explanation."
C.E.Ayers

Assignment:
Is it always essential to tell the truth, or are there circumstances in which it is better to lie? Plan your response, and then write an essay...

Lois McMaster Bujold once said, "If the truth doesn't save us, what does that say about us?" This quotation tells that to tell the truth is considered a good thing, but not essential; and if the truth doesn't help people to achieve, then maybe it is a circumstance in which it is better to lie.

This is one situation, which is better to tell a lie than a truth. One day, your co-worker wears a new dress from her husband as an anniversary gift. The dress is pretty by itself, but it does not suit her; she wants your opinion on this dress. Obviously, you cannot tell her the truth that this dress does not look well on her because then she might be downcast and blames it on her husband; therefore you have to tell her a lie, which will not hurt her feeling. Telling lies are not just for better personal feelings but also for a better world.

There is a movie which is talking about a father and a son during a civil war. The son is only about five years old. The father does not want his son to be scared then screams to get the enemy's attention, so he lies to his son. He says that this is a game which you have to be quiet and hide from the enemy. He also tells his son not move until he comes back. So then, the son listens to his father, he doesn't move nor talk. As time passes by, the war is over. The father comes back and finds his son asleep with a smile; he is then content and relieved.

To tell the co-worker and the son about something nice is better than to let them face the cruel realities. The lesson behind the two examples is that even though lying should not be permitted, but it is not essential for people to tell the truth in circumstances which lying can make things better.