Complex Numbers

To Be Honest...

PROMPT November 13th

In what circumstances do you believe it is okay to fib or tell a white lie?

What? It's never okay to fib, and white lies are lies! One should always be completely honest with both oneself and-

Oh, I can't go on like that. There's only so much bullshit I can spew at one time.

The truth is: lies keep the world running smoot- okay, less roughly than if there weren't lies.

When I was younger, I might have actually believed what I was starting to say up there, that honesty is always the best course of action. But I learned better, oh yes. All it took was one honest answer to "Does this dress make my butt look big?" and I learned. (Of course, it seems like, these days, that's the goal with clothing.)

And, of course, I am sometimes a fiction writer, and what's fiction but a lie? Sure, everyone involves knows it's untrue, hence the name "fiction," but it's still premeditated dishonesty.

Do I always tell the unvarnished truth? Hell no. But I have a few guidelines for myself when interacting with people.

First and foremost, don't lie more than you have to; keeping a story straight is hard enough when you tell the truth. I'm naturally full of contradictions and hypocrisies. Compounding those by lying about them, when you'll have to remember which lie you told to which person later, takes too much mental energy.

Second, before you lie, take a second to check yourself: are you trying to make yourself look good, or gain some advantage, or are you just trying to grease the wheels of conversation? I expect everyone puffs themselves up a little bit, but saying you've hiked across Antarctica, gone into space, or swam the English Channel when you didn't can be detrimental to your reputation. (Then again, if you've done any of these things, shut up; you're making the rest of us look bad.)

Third, rather than enumerate the situations in which it's okay to fib or tell a white lie, I will enumerate the situations in which it's not okay to do so: 1) in a committed relationship; 2) in court. That's... well, that's about all I can think of at the moment.

In short, lies make life better for everyone - up to a point, and that point is when someone gets harmed by false information. But that doesn't fall into the category of "fib or white lie."

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to prepare for my hike across Antarctica.