Always telling the truth is the most important consideration in any relationship.

Always telling the truth is the most important consideration in any relationship.

We’d all like to get along with people who are with great virtues, and among these virtues, being honest and sincere is one of the most important. However, I do not think it a good idea to tell the truth all the time to everyone.

Admittedly, telling the truth is beneficial to us. It can not be denied that people loves truth, because truth lead them to facts, while lies are misleading and will often hurt people. While nowadays many people lie to others for their own well-being, those who tells the truth will become more valuable. As a consequence, people tends to establish good and stable relationships with the honest ones, which will in turn benefit the honest guys by getting good friendships.

However, truth may hurt people in some special occasions, while telling a white lie is more beneficial to everyone. In these situations, telling a lie may be a more reasonable option. When I was in high school, my desk-mate Leonardo had a new haircut one day and showed it to me. Although it is not a good haircut actually, telling him the truth will disappoint him and ruin his good mode. So I lied to Leo, telling him it was cool and recommended him another hair style which is more handsome and suited him better, instead of directly telling him the truth that his haircut was awful. I lied to protect him and succeed.

What’s more, not telling the truth can also be a necessary protection for ourselves, without doing harm to others. When not telling the truth, we can choose to keep silent instead of lying and hurting others. For example, a smart phone company have come up with a new technique that improves their smart phone product. When asked about this technique, they have to choose to keep silent and not telling their opponent the truth. This is not cheating but the way of business, for their own protection as well as the rule of the market.