Name
Mr.
ENG3U.-01
30/09/2019
“The Truth About Lying” Personal Response
“The Truth About Lying” by Judith Viorst discusses the regularity of lying in different
situations and whether or not lying is acceptable in society. Viorst says that she believes that
there will be times when a protective lie, which is often quite a serious lie because people are
convinced the truth would be too damaging, must sometimes be told. In my opinion, I think this statement is completely true. There are many cases in life where a protective lie would do much
more good than relative to the harm that could occur when telling the real truth.
The benefit of protective lies is described in their name; they are protective. This type of
lie will most likely do good to the person it is being told to, the person telling it and the actions
which results from it. Protective lies are told all the time to children to protect their innocence.
Things like Santa coming for Christmas, the Easter Bunny coming for Easter and the Tooth Fairy coming when you lose a tooth are all protective lies, commonly told to children. These lies give excitement to children, they make them feel happy and give them things to look forward to. Of course, when the time is right, the truth will be revealed but in the meantime there is so much
good in these lies. Another example of this type of lie being used is in emergencies. Reassuring
someone when something has gone wrong will most likely keep them calm and help them have a better outlook on the situation. One of my brother’s friends was once in a bad biking accident.
His nose was a mess, he lost a tooth and he was coughing up lots of blood. However, telling him he was going to be okay and that the injuries didn’t look as bad as they were, helped keep him calm. He believed he was going to be alright so he didn’t go into shock and we were able to
avoid an even bigger worry. Protective lies are told in all sorts of scenarios like I mentioned from
holiday visitors to big emergencies, all just with the good intention to protect someone.
When a protective lie is told, it is really only to safeguard somebody. Unlike some of the other lies Virost analyzes, a protective lie can be very helpful in many ways. I personally think
that a protective lie differentiates from the other types of lies because it is a lie which won’t
necessarily make you feel guilty. Telling a child about Santa only preserves their innocence and
telling someone they’re going to be just fine after a bad accident only gives them hope instead of having them panic in the moment. The concept of lying can sometimes be completely twisted
into something unacceptable when really there are certain types of lies, such as a protective lie,
which actually does so much good for the little world we live in.
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