When it is okay to lie

우성민

Generally, most people consider lying as something bad that we should not do in our lives. This is because we normally think cheating other people is an evident disrespect that deceives one’s character. However, this does not mean that lying cannot be allowed in any circumstances. Actually, most people frequently face certain situation where truth is not the best answer and what we should think about this is in which situation lying could be justified. But there is no fixed answer. It is what individuals need to choose. In my opinion, the situation that justifies lying is when it is for other people, not for myself. To support, I want to suggest three examples appropriate for lying, which are related to relationship, education, and medical science.

To begin with, appropriate lying plays a very important role in maintaining relationship with other people. Usually, people easily get hurt by even a small thing like a simple joke about their appearance. This is the reason why pure honesty can be an obstacle to making friends. Since humans want to be praised and do not want their drawbacks to be pointed out, proper amount of lying is inevitable. For instance, if your friend who bought a suit of clothes he had really wanted to get asks you if it looks good on him, you need to say yes regardless of your actual opinion. This is one kind of the appropriate situations that justifies lying since it is conducted to avoid hurting other people and continue good relationship, which is essential to live a successful life. Thus, lying can be considered appropriate when it is for good relationship with other people.

Also, moderate lying is essential in the area of education. Since human is the only animal with high intelligence and willpower, what we can achieve is significantly influenced by what we think about ourselves. So, it is important for educators to help students become confident and this process needs proper lying. To illustrate, in places like kindergarten where young children go to learn, teachers never scold students when they cannot achieve the given task. Regardless of children’s actual ability, educators always try to inculcate children with a sense of confidence by complimenting students repeatedly to let them feel motivated and fun. Although this kind of behavior obviously goes for lying, it could be justified since it would help the growth and progress of other people. Therefore, lying for better education can be appropriate.

Finally, lying sometimes can be justified in medical science. Doctors always say that the most important factor that helps patients become healthy is their positive mind believing they will be cured. In fact, this is a solemn fact that has been scientifically proved, which is called ‘placebo effect’. So, what we need to do when we have someone sick around us is to give them hope with positive comments although it is not the truth. For example, when doctors notice someone’s life is limited, they never tell the truth from the beginning since they want patients to fight with the disease with hope. Even though this is the behavior that fools other people, nobody think it is bad because this lie stems from warm mind that sincerely worries about patients. Like this, lying can be partially admitted in the area of medical science.

To conclude, appropriate situations for lying is when it comes from mind that cares about other people. Circumstances related to relationship, education, and medical science are the examples that support this idea. However, this does not mean that lying is justifiable. Even though I have revealed my opinion about suitable situations for lying, basically it is a behavior that is morally wrong. What I want to say in this essay is that there are some situations where we need to be flexible.

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