Is It Always Best to Tell the Truth

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lthough being honest is a positive trait in people and being truthful is important in a relationship, I do think that it is sometimes better to not tell the truth. Telling the truth can in some cases be unnecessary hurtful and may even jeopardize your relationship. For example, when your friend has a new hair do and she asks you what you think of it, you could say that you think it is absolutely horrible. If that is what you really think, you would be honest to her. However, it wouldn’t be nice to her. There is not much that she can do about her hair do right now, so telling her that she looks like a fool would only upset her. In such cases I think it is perfectly acceptable to tell a so-called white lie. If you occasionally tell a white lie to a friend I think the relationship will not suffer from it, on the contrary it will benefit the relationship because you respect your friend and his or her style. Besides telling white lies, which I consider quite harmless, people can also decide to not tell you something at all. Would not telling something you know constitute lying, I wonder? Well, if you hide information you are not being entirely open and honest to the other person. Is this necessarily a bad thing? I personally do not think so. Of course it depends on the information that you decide not to tell and how important it is to your friend. For example if you found out that your friend’s boyfriend is cheating, would you tell her? Although it would be honest to tell her the truth, arguments can be made to hide it from her. For instance, what if she doesn’t believe you? Then she may well get very upset and angry with you. This would only drive her into the arms of her boyfriend instead of believing you. In such cases you as the messenger might well be regarded as the bad guy. This would not help the situation at all. In conclusion, I do think that honesty

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