By Kelsey Kramer
Have you ever lied to your best friend about how “gorgeous” they look with their new haircut? Or told someone they made amazing art but in reality, you don’t think much of it.
You don’t want to hurt their feelings but all your life you’ve learned lying is bad. So what do you do, do you tell them the truth and ruin their day or do you lie to them and make their day?
A dishonest person is hard to trust even if they only lie occasionally so lying to someone is never a good idea even if it is done with good intentions.
People ask for your opinion because they want to know what you think or they are looking for reassurance that nothing is wrong. If someone’s hair was out of place or the outfit they were trying on wasn’t flattering, they would probably want to know if it genuinely looks good or if they need to fix something.
As long as you are honest and come from a loving position with kindness behind your statement there will be no hurt feelings.
Just because you don’t have something nice to say doesn’t mean you have to be rude about it. You can give feedback, advice, hints on what to do, or honestly say that the dress they’re trying on doesn’t suit them and give a suggestion that might help.
For example, “I know you think vaping is cool, but it is very detrimental to your health”, “Your artwork might need some more color but other than that you are doing great”, or “I don’t think this dress is a good suit but I’m sure there is another dress that only you can pull off, we just need to find it.”
Some may argue that if you lie then you won’t have to go through the trouble of making it sound nice. However, if you lie about liking someone’s brownies then they will continue to give you the same brownies with delight because you “like” them so much. Which gives you more to deal with like keeping the lie every single time and making sure they don’t find out that you lied. Not only will they be disappointed to find out you lied but also that the brownies they enjoyed sharing with you mean nothing to you.
The truth will come out eventually so it only matters if you decide to be honest at that moment. Are you ready to face the consequences?
“People who fail to regard the truth seriously in small matters, cannot be trusted in matters that are great.”- Albert Schweitzer
