White lies can cause more damage then good, but I also think that some white lies are harmless. Desiding rather or not a white lie is harmful or harmless is determined on a case by case bases. Ericsson gave two examples of white lies.
The frist example given was a mom that has had a really rough day and she lies about her bill being in the mail, bad traffic, and to her husband about having a good day. All of those lies I'd say are harmless. Saying the bill was in the mail doesn't hurt anything, as long as it isn't something that she does on a regular bases. Being late even though there wasn't any traffic, also isn't bad as long as she isn't always late. Telling her husband that her dad was fine isn't a bad thing either. It's not like something extremely bad happened to her or the family that day and she could see that he wasn't in the best mood. Basically white lies are okay occasionally, but shouldn't be over used.
The second example given was when a sergent told the family of one of his men that even though their family member had died in combat, he said that he was still missing. He was trying to do a good thing so that the family would get more money, but he ended up leaving that family unable to move on, grasping at non existant hope for 20 years. That caused more damage then it did good and it was defiently a big white lie. Personally I don't concider something like that a lie. Lying about someone being alive or dead is a big lie and I believe that white lies are small lies that are also harmless.
Hi Sara-
ReplyDeleteI agree the lie the Sergeant told the dead soldier’s family was not a "white lie". They suffered for twenty years not knowing the status of their family member. He should have told them the truth immediately. They would have been able to suffer through the grief of losing a loved one but at least they would know what happened to him. I appreciated the valid points you made.
Thank you,
Sarah Baker
Hello Sara,
ReplyDeleteI was completely biased to all lies being bad until you reminded me of the story about the soldiers family. I was just getting all worked up until I read your response. Thank you. Your right about it not really being a lie at that point. I think its the least the military could do for his family because he gave everything to the military. Thank you again for making me think about it in a different way.
-B