UWP 1
Han Chen
Assignment 3
Feb 24th 2013
White lies are not lies
When it comes to the statement that whether white lies are lies or not, most
people hold the view that white lies could fall under the category of lies. The
definition of “lie” refers to a statement that deviates from or perverts the truth and the
white lie ought to be an often trivial, diplomatic or well-intentioned untruth.
Seemingly, the white lie should be considered a lie since the definition of “white lie”
has shown that the white lie is untruthful. However, this opinion could be refuted
because of the well-meaning motivation behind the “white lie”. Most white lies might
evade this definition because they attempt to keep a person on course by politely
telling untruths which could lead to positive forces or motivations where the common
lies might cause negative results. This reminds me of a short story written by O•
Henry named “The last leaf”. In this story, the artist Mr.Behrman drew the last ivy
leaf on the wall opposite to the ward because it is the only hope for the poor patient
Johnsy since all the real ivy leaves had been blown off. Though this was an untruth,
how could this white lie be a negative lie?
White lies contain good motives and have the purpose of safeguarding the
interests of others with positive starting points. Particularly, the contradiction between
the common and well-intentioned lies can possibly contain different meanings from
their universality and particularity. The very nature of the white lie is not malicious,
but rather seeks to establish good in the hearts of the faithful, on the basis of what is
right, and malicious lies selfishly only benefit the liars. Liars possess strong
acquisitiveness, weak rational, others only as a means and do not hesitate to hurt other
people. The white lies mean perhaps stems from genuine concerns. Liars have malice
in their hearts, no matter how disguised and how rhetoric. Obviously, white lies will
not affect the integrity of the liars and the white lies may bring people confidence and
cover the truth that might make people depressed and hopeless. Also, the examples
and explanations to strengthen these statements will be elaborated in the following
paragraphs.
Speaking of lies, children nor adults can keep away from lies. Everyone lies, just
some lies are well-intentioned, and some lies are malicious. If the starting point is
good and it has a well-intentioned deception, this kind of lying could be positive and
valuable. Firstly, white lies might bring people confidence and motivations. In the late
fifties and early sixties of last century, China and the former Soviet Union had a
dispute between each other so the government of the Soviet Union tore up the contract
of the former Soviet Union to withdraw experts in order to help the local engineers in
China. This made China’s national industry become paralyzed because of the former
Soviet Union. In order to pay off all the debts, Chairman Mao Zedong at that time
called on the national People's Congress practice steel, to carry out the unprecedented
Great Leap Forward. The Chinese people at that time would not know that their
country owed a large amount of debt, and the national liberation worried about this
serious situation as it might retrograde the whole society, but the leading comrades of
the party and the country took up the burden and then the national leadership provided
the people of China with a well-intentioned lie. And also the Chinese people at that
time would have no pressure or motivation to work hard together and to create an
unprecedented miracle. For example, during that period of time, the difficult and
troubled environment created the iron Man Wang Jinxi. Wang Jinxi encouraged and
motivated his oil drilling team and brought Chinese people the first port of oil wells.
There would be no successes at that time if people knew the truth of the bad
relationship with the former Soviet Union and the large amount of debts their country
owed. More seriously, the whole society might face more unsteady and dangerous
factors if the people could know the whole truth. The untruth or the white lie in this
case had provided confidence for the Chinese people at that time so that people could
overcome the difficulties and troubles in order to push the developments of the whole
society.
Secondly, white lies always cover the truth that might bring people sadness and
make people feel hopeless. I have thought of a report from a TV program. An old
mother had kidney disease and her life would be threatened if the kidney transplant
could not be operated on successfully. The eldest son volunteered to donate a kidney
to his mother, but the mother strongly opposed because she would rather die than
endanger her dear son. However, it might take too long to wait for another kidney
match, so the son donated his kidney anyways without his mother’s knowledge. When
the mother woke up from surgery to find her eldest son was not there, the family just
lied to her and said the son went on a business trip. I was moved to tears reading this
story as is it impedes the integrity of the value of the white lie. In addition, the
happiness of others and hope might pull people to make some little lies. But in some
ways, these lies could become understanding, respectful and tolerant because they
contain a magic power to encourage people and cheer them up. Here is a simple case.
There is a student and his long-distance running is not very good. However, in the
time of the test, the teacher told him that his long-distance running speed could be
faster than the other students and the teacher also said that he had the opportunity to
represent the school to participate in the competition if he could keep practicing
running hard. And the student felt very excited after listening to the teacher's words
because he used to felt that he did not have the long-distance running talent and even
the chance of representative of the schools to participate in the competition. From that
day onwards, he really likes long-distance running practices running every day. Over
a period of time, he would have completely represented the school to participate in the
competition and he had indeed been chosen. Obviously, the little boy could have no
chance to be a good runner and to represent his school without the teacher’s white lie.
Also, we could imagine that if they told the hospitalized mother the truth of the whole
situation of the solution and treatment of the disease, she might not choose to agree
with the whole treatment that saved her life because it endangered her son. As a result,
there would be no possibility to curing the patient. The white lie in this case reflected
that better results might occur after the covering of the truth that would make people
lose hope and feel pessimistic.
All in all, white lies have the magical power which can inspire efforts of people
to never give up and in order to pursue the dreams in their hearts. Although white lies
could be other styles or ways of the “lie”, due to the covering of the truth, we still
cannot neglect the positive sides of “white lies” since they may make our lives better
and better.