The Integrity of Lying

Lying is a part of life because the truth is not black and white, and when it is, it’s hard to face. Degrees of reality often carry different weight for different people. Every time a person tells a story, certain details are augmented while others are either omitted or played down because the teller of the story thinks that certain parts of the story are more important than others. Every citizen of the world is such a storyteller, relaying events or ignoring them because we think some events contribute more to the general equation of life more than others.

Is not saying the something the same as lying? If I had gone to the bathroom and not told someone I had done so, would that be a lie? It wouldn’t, because me trip to the bathroom doesn’t amount to anything in the end. It doesn’t affect anything hugely on a grand scheme because it doesn’t really change anything. However, if I had gone to the bathroom and broken the toilet and not told anyone, would that be a lie? Well, some might argue that it’s not because I didn’t not tell the truth, I just didn’t do anything. However, that contributes the ending equation, doesn’t it? So I guess it is a lie.

But what if a broken toilet doesn’t really affect your life all that much? You might have other things on your mind, and a broken toilet might seem catastrophic to some people, but the supposed teller of the lie might not think so. That results in a conflict of integrity. Person A is a criminal of toilets because he or she didn’t say anything about the broken toilet. Person A doesn’t think this is a huge deal until Person B finds out about it and accuses Person A of lying. Who is right? Well, when a person of authority happens to be Person B, Person A is at a huge disadvantage. The toilet works fine, you just have to jerk the flushing thing a couple times for it to work. However, Person A is stuck paying for a new toilet because Person B wants to teach Person A a lesson.