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The Complexity of Lying
It’s more complicated than it seems.
We’re taught throughout our lives to never lie. Don’t lie to your parents. Don’t lie in school. Don’t lie under oath.
As Don Miguel Ruiz says, always be impeccable with your word. To lie is to destroy your reputation and everything you’ve built. Both the Harvard and Yale school mottos contain the Latin word for truth.
So is lying always wrong? Even the simple act of posing this question ignites personal feelings of guilt and discomfort.
The reality is all people lie from time to time. If someone has told you they have never lied is lying to your face.
The most common lie is claiming one has never lied.
I recently watched the movie The Holdovers which got me thinking more about the complexities of lying.
The movie is about the relationship between a veteran teacher and one of his students at a New England boarding school. The student is left behind for the holidays and it’s the teacher’s responsibility to look after the kid for the next two weeks.
The teacher continuously implores the boy to always speak the truth. This makes sense. It’s what any responsible adult would tell a child.
