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Today's
Quotation:
To
tell a lie in cowardice, to tell a lie for gain, or to
avoid deserved punishment-- are all the blackest of black
lies. On the other hand,
to teach one to try one's best to
avoid the truth-- even to press it
when necessary toward
the outer edge of the rainbow-- for a reason
of kindness,
or of mercy, is far closer to the heart of truth than
to
repeat something accurately and mercilessly that will
cruelly
hurt the feelings of someone.
Emily Post
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Today's
Meditation:
"A
lie is a lie," we're taught. "The truth is
always the best." Because of these misguided
teachings, we often find ourselves in a huge ethical dilemma
when we don't feel that the complete truth is going to be
helpful--how can we "lie" to someone, especially
someone who's dear to us? The people who think that
everyone has to know the complete truth all the time tend to
act in cruelty at times.
If
a friend shows me a story that he or she has written and I
can't stand it, do I hand it back and say that I hate
it? No, I don't, even though that might be the full
truth. I'll look for some constructive comments to
make, and I'll tell my friend that it's not my kind of
story. I have to ask myself what purpose it would
serve to tell the full truth, and the answer usually is
"none." As a teacher, I find myself in
situations in which parents are asking for a bit more
information than seems appropriate. Telling them that
their son or daughter seems to be struggling a bit may lead
to awful consequences for the son or daughter, so it's
usually better to say that the student is trying hard and
doing his or her best, and keep working with them.
I
don't like to lie. I hold the truth in very high
regard. But sometimes, simply saying "I don't
know" when I really do know saves pain and heartache
for many people, while being legalistic about the truth
would lead to much more stress, aggravation, and even anger
than a situation calls for.
We
have to make decisions all of our lives, and we have to
trust ourselves when we do so. Truth is not a
black-and-white issue, no matter how hard some people try to
convince us that it is. Deciding when to hold back
some truth or to tell the whole truth is a part of life that
we all must face, and we have to do so by examining the
possible consequences of our actions.
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