Are White Lies Permissible?

Soh Yi Ren Today 1:00 am

Are White Lies Permissible?

Once, a friend of mine asked me if she

looked fat in her new dress - she was
a rather large sized girl and the dress
was one size smaller so she didn’t
look very nice in the dress. But i didn’t
want to hurt her feelings - so I told her
that she looked great. She was happy
for a while until her other friends
made fun of her in her new dress and
she got upset. When she confronted
me on this matter, I confessed that I
lied on my earlier opinion. She was so
angry with me and told me that I
should have told the truth from the
beginning- that way she wouldn’t have
worn the dress in public and
embarrassed herself.

That got me thinking - maybe telling a

white lie isn’t worth it. So, what’s a
white lie? It’s a lie that we tell because
we don’t want to hurt other people’s
feelings.
Then, the other day, I went to visit my
Grandma and she decided to cook
lunch for us as we rarely drop by for a
visit. She cooked my favourite dish
which was sweet and sour chicken but
when I took my first bite I almost spat
out the meat! It was so salty! I realised
that my Grandma may have used too
much salt into the dish.

After lunch, my grandma asked me if I

liked the dish. I wanted to tell her the
truth but then I looked at her face and
she had that big smile on it and I
realised I didn’t have the heart to hurt
her feelings. So, I told her that it
tasted great. She gave me an even
bigger smile and I knew I made the
right decision.

Two separate occasions where I had

to lie but both had a different
outcome. In the first situation, I made
someone angry by telling a lie and in
the other, i made someone happy.
White lies are so confusing - I never
know if I should or should not tell a lie.
But I guess, a lie is still a lie even
though it’s meant not to hurt
someone’s feeling. My mum used to
say that no matter how we justify it, it
will still be bad to lie.

So, should white lies be allowed?

What do you think? My mum thinks
that honesty is the best policy. But I
think that taking care of how others
feel is just as important. It might not
be a good idea to lie to your friend
about how she looks but I think it’s ok
to tell your Grandma that her cooking
is fantastic as long as she’s happy
with the reply.