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At
9:00 Dick Spivalk’s
bank telephoned and said his payment was late.
‘The
check is in the post.’
Dick replied quickly. At 11:45 Dick left for a 12:00 meeting across town.
Arriving late, he explained that traffic had been bad. That evening, Dick’s
girlfriend wore a new dress. He hated it.
‘It
looks just great on you, ‘
he said.
Three
lies in one day! Yet Dick Spival is just an ordinary man. Each time, he told
himself that sometimes the truth causes too many problems. Most of us tell much
the same white lies, harmless untruths that help to save trouble. How often do
we tell white lies? It depends in part on our age, education, and even where we
live. According to one U.S. study, women are more truthful than men, and honesty
increases as we get older.
While
most people use little white lies to make life easier, the majority of Americans
care about honesty in both public and personal life. They say that people today
are less honest than they were ten years ago. Although it is believed that
things are getting worse, lying seems to be an age-old human problem. The French
philosopher Vauvenarges, writing in the eighteenth century, touched on the truth
when he wrote, ‘All
men are born truthful and die liars.’ |
