Is lying always relative? Or are there different situations?

When someone is criticized for spilling a lie they must be given the benefit of the doubt. Many times a lie proves to be more of a positive then a negative. It truly depends on the situation. For example, common parenthood has proven to use the ideal of lying. The most common form of lying is explaining the existence of creature such as Santa or the Easter Bunny. Parents use this technique to keep children in good behavior and to improve the childhood excitement of their children. In many other parenting situation It unconditionally proves to be the simple, easier, and better way to express something through a lie to a child. To me, it all depends on the situation. There are, in fact, isolated situations that happen only 99 percent of the time.

Can the same lie be deemed right and wrong at the same time? Most lies depend on the situation in hand. For example, if someone came out of their room and had a new outfit on and asked their husband how they looked, the husband would have to options. If it was time to go, otherwise the couple would be late then he should say his wife looks good even if she doesn’t because otherwise she would feel bad all night and the truth would not help anyone in the long run. On the other side of the coin, if there was still a half an hour left before the two had to depart then the obvious thing to do would be to tell the truth in a thoughtful manner. In this case the truth helps because it exposes a possible flaw that, with the truth, could be fixed. In this example the rightness and wrongness of a lie can be variable. It all depends on if the lie will do more “good” then it will “bad.”

On the other hand there are situations where lying is always wrong. Although a small percentage some lies do not have a positive outcome for the situation as a whole. For example, if one were to commit a murder they could be forced to continue making lies to cover the first lie, the second lie, and so on. Then ultimately the final and 1% of always bad lies can occur in trial on the “witness bench.” A lawyer may ask something that would contradict the facts of the events that occur during the murder, and the lie would add merit to false evidence and in the end send an innocent man to prison for a crime that the liar committed. The lie would prove to be far more bad then good. The convicted murderer and his family and friends would have to live with the fact that he will be in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. The liar would be given a guilty conscience. In this case, it is never ok the lie about something that can have such high affects and lying about capital crimes is never an okay thing to do.

At the end of the day, a lie usually depends on the situation. It is okay to tell lies that either help everyone are for greater good. It is okay to tell lies that make people feel good and have no harm on other bystanders. A common example is saying “good game” to people after a sporting event. Sometime, in some situations it is never okay to lie, but again these cases only happen about 1 percent of the time.