Is Lying acceptable?
June 25, 2011 2 Comments
Even though all of us have been taught not to lie from our childhood, why do we consider it’s ok to lie? It’s obvious that there is nobody in the world who doesn’t lie or who hasn’t lied in his entire life. Judith Viorst in her essay, “The truth about Lying” has mentioned different kinds of lies that fall under different categories. This essay tells that people tell a lie when they are in dreadful situation or when they don’t want to hurt others by telling the truth. Those people who think that they don’t lie will encounter with different examples in this essay which will make them accept the truth that all people lie and that they also fall in one of the categories. While starting to read the essay in our class, we were told to reminisce about any of the scenes when we had lied. At that time, nothing came in my mind, I was thinking that I don’t lie anymore as I used to in my childhood, but when I started to read the essay, I found that almost all of the examples Viorst made had been used by me.
Viorst says that lies are necessary in order to be congenial. For example, it is always rude to tell a person who is dressing up for a party that she looks absurd in her party dress. Even though she looks odd in her new dress, we will eventually say that she looks gorgeous so that she doesn’t feel uncomfortable in her party. Similarly, we never tell the dying person that he is going to die soon when he asks what the doctor had said regarding his health. In both of these examples, it is clear that the answers to both of these questions were true, but instead of being rude, the person lied to tell them the truth. It is obvious that if the person had given them the right answer, the one who had asked the question might have been demoralized. Therefore, it is true that lies are accepted by our society and it is ok to lie if it doesn’t harm others.