Society Debate: Which is better: To tell the whole truth or a white lie?

Tell the truth at all times Very often people are caught up in situations where it seems very disastrous for them to speak the truth. They believe that by speaking the truth, their lives, careers or relationships will be put on the line. So they end up saying what they call a “white lie” to save themselves. Whether they truly get relieved by speaking the so-called white lies is another topic, but experience has taught me that, in whichever circumstances, it is better to speak the truth and nothing but the truth. It may hurt a little or embarrass you a great lot, but in the long run, speaking the truth will boost your character and personality, people will respect you as a person of your word.This is all because, when you lie to someone who trusts you, somehow, one day, that little secret of yours will be found out anyway and you will stand greater shame and ridicule. In fact, you may lose it all. What you consider small and minute may be considered as very important by someone else, so, before you try to lie, apparently with no harm, think about how your selfishness is going to affect the other party. You may assume that you are protecting someone’s feelings, but the fact is, you are just prolonging their pain and making the situation even more awkward for both of you. You may speak your white lies, considering them to be harmless, in your mind thinking that you only wanted to save the day, but just put yourself in the shoes of that innocent person who will always believe what you said was the truth. How fair is that? Lies, white or whatever colour, are spoken with a general intention of cheating or fooling others, keeping in mind that the statements shall be mistaken as truth easily. The best practice is therefore to avoid situations that force you to lie. However, here’s what you should do if you think you are caught between a rock and a hard place, instead of speaking those small lies, just shut up! At least no one will ever blame you for speaking nothing. What you may not know is that a single white lie, may trigger a chain reaction and lead to even bigger lies in order to protect the small white lie you told in the first place. If you are not careful enough, telling lies will soon turn into an unnecessary habit that is hard to break off. You will soon use them just for the case of amusing people, or to maintain your social status over more important matters. To me there are no colour shades of lies; a lie is a lie. mugishaivan@yahoo.com