Good Essay On A Little Inaccuracy Saves A World Of Explanation

South Indian poet Thiruvalluvar, and Adi Shankara, one of India’s great philosophers, have given mankind certain guidelines on lying. If telling a lie brings good to fellow human beings, for example, if a lie saves an innocent man from going to the gallows, according to them, lying is good. In fact, Thiruvlluvar allows someone to lie through his humble argument that even untruth is equivalent to truth, provided it is capable of producing unblemished good to the human kind. Shakespeare also justifies telling lies sometimes. According to the great English playwright, if someone lies and no harm ensues out of it God would pardon his lie. According to this statement a truth bringing harm to the world is more dangerous than a harmless lie. Plato, the renowned Greek philosopher allows statesmen to use a ‘noble lie’ as a state-craft instrument.
Primarily, a person lies for two reasons - firstly, to intentionally misguide another person with false information to take advantage, and secondly to help a person from a critical situation. For example, a boy may intentionally misguide his mother by putting the blame of stealing money from her wallet on his brother, and escape punishment. If the mother believes his statement and punishes the brother the lie is harmful. On the other hand, a man may lie to an ailing mother, saying that she is all right and recovering, hiding her medical report suggesting that she is in fact dying. This lie, in fact, is intended to allow the old woman die a peaceful death, and hence harmless.
Lying is not an accepted norm in the society. In general, people in a society expect each other to be truthful and trustworthy always. Even though lying does favors at times it lowers mutual trust between men. When stereotypes are associated to a society for telling lies, it affects the whole community. Even if hiding a fact does no harm to the society, unfortunately lying cannot be made lawful. Lying often breaks friendships and marriages. Though a liar enjoys short term gains as a result of lying to his partner in a harmless manner, when the partner comes to know of it one day, a small lie may result in breaking the marriage itself. Also, some lies make the liar guilt-conscious for the rest of his life. If an employee of good repute tells a lie, when found out, would damage his integrity and jeopardize his very career.
Even when a lie is not harmful, the person intending to lie can explore other possibilities before telling the lie to avoid embarrassment at a later point of time. Sometimes harmless lies are meant to avoid unnecessary arguments and fear of losing an argument. Open discussions and seeking the help of mediators can help avoid such lies and ensuing misunderstandings in future. Most of the times, a harmless lie, conveniently called a ‘white lie,’ deprives the other person of knowing the truth or getting a true feedback. For instance, when a host asks feedback about a dinner to a guest, and the guest, who is in fact not content with the way the whole thing is arranged and gives a good feedback, it deprives the host of the open views of the guest.
Lying, often stereotyped harmful, does even good at times, but for a price. However, to keep relationships intact and uphold one’s integrity and trustworthiness, it is always advisable to resort to frank and open discussions with the persons concerned before lying. In situations where revealing a bitter truth may do more harm than good, it is advisable to lie, as advised by the ancient philosophers and saints.