Essay #5

Honesty is a phrase lightly used in a world where lying can get a person ahead of the competition and keep themselves out of trouble. Telling “little white lies” about one’s tardiness or mental state to avoid conflict and resolve problems quickly, can this be considered still being honest although they’re potentially telling a lie? In a society where each and every person is driven to make a living, and all the while still have an enjoyable life, how can it be possible to remain happy when a potentially disastrous conflict happens to arise? The answer is simply to lie through their teeth, and yet at the same time reassure themselves that it’s to avoid a conflict with their spouse, acquaintances, friends, or family, or even in the rare case a stranger. Lying is part of the human drive to survive, even if it’s only to avoid a three minute argument, or the potential loss of a job. If these “white lies” are just to avoid conflicts, and people use this idea as a basis that they're still being an honest person, what other falsehoods can one reach by believing they're still honest after telling bold faced lies?

Telling a lie can be brought about in one of two ways, to either avoid conflict, or to avoid or prolong involvement. To avoid a conflict, many people lie about why they are late for work, because traffic was terrible, or there was a wreck, when they simply chose not to get up early enough to get to work on time, or went and picked up coffee on the way to work. Lying about why one was late to a meeting, school, work, or any of the other dozen destinations one might have, is merely the attempt at avoiding conflict, such as an argument, being reprimanded by a company or a superior. Sometimes these little lies about tardiness become just so natural we can think up one on the fly, “The traffic on the 101 was backed up because of the construction on College, so I was delayed at least 15 minutes trying to get to Windsor.” Although these lies sometimes are to benefit our own situation, where are we justified in lying about that? Just because they wanted an extra half hour of sleep they lied about construction, or needed to sleep off a hangover, but we don’t tell our superiors this to avoid a conflict, as well as hoping we don’t get fired over such a mistake.

The American public has come to the consensus that being prompt, bright-eyed, and bushy-tailed, is a virtue to live by, and being lazy, tired, and uninterested are bad traits. So because the public opinion swings in favor of a good image, people often are forced to lie about situations or events to gain the favor of their superior or maintain that “good image” everyone is so happy to strive for. Truly, being an honest person does not only stem from being honest at certain times, but also being honest as often as possible to avoid conflicts between friends, and to keep people from being hurt. A lie informing your friend that you’re already busy that day, and you’re actually free all day is a lie no question about it, but it also avoids hurting the other persons feelings, as well as injuring your friendship. Being truthful when it really matters, and being so much more often than a liar is very difficult in this day and age, but fortunately most people are honest with their friends, and keep hurtful secrets to themselves, rather than instigating a conflict, verbal or physical between two people....