Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
Always telling the truth is the most important consideration in any relationship.
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
The traditional virtue of telling the truth in all situations is increasingly doubted by many in today’s world. Many believe that telling the truth is not always the best policy when dealing with people. Moreover, the line of a “truth” is becoming more and more vague. This essay will explore the importance of telling the truth in relationships between people.
We all understand that often the truth is offending and may not be a very nice thing to both hear or say. Lies or white lies often have their advantages. The manipulation of white lies is the most obvious the business world. How many times have we heard that some product is “the finest” or “the cheapest”? how many times have we heard that products have such and such “magical functions”? advertising is about persuasion, and many would agree that if a company is to tell the absolute truth about it’s products, no one would be interested in even having a look at the products.
The same logic applies to human relationships. If your friend had worn a newly purchased dress on her birthday and energetically asked you if it was a worthy buy, would you freely express your opinion that you had never seen a dress as the one she’s currently wearing? And spoil her birthday? Unarguably, hiding (entirely or particially) the truth in some situations can be quite handy indeed. Confrontations and disputes can seemingly be avoided.
However, there is always the risk factor of the truth emerging sooner or later when telling an untruth. The basic trust in any relationships (businessman/customer, friends, parents/children) will be blotched, and would have an impact on the future relationship between both parties. The story of the “the boy who cried wolf” fully illustrates the consequences of telling untruths. No one will believe you when you’re telling the truth. Your word will have no weighting.
In addition, another “bad factor” of telling untruths is that you have absolutely no control over when the truth (of previous untruths) will emerge. Untruths breed pain in both parties: tears when the truth is uncovered after a period of time; fear and the burden of sharing a “secret”. In the long run, it seems that hiding the truth is not beneficial to either party.
Everyone hates betrayal. Even if it is the trend to occasionally hide the truth in relationships, it is strongly recommended that not to follow that trend as the risk and the consequences of the truth unfolded overwhelms the minimal advantages one can derive from not telling the truth After all, it is understood that relationships are founded on “trust” which goes hand in hand with “truth”. Indeed telling the truth is the most important consideration in any relationship between people. Always.
Rater's comment
This lengthy essay presents a clear and very well-developed discussion of the issue. There are occasional instances of poor phrasing (“the line of a ‘truth’ is becoming more and more vague”), but these are more than offset by the rest of the response, which is fluent, varied, complex, and sophisticated. Again, the only noticeable fault is the failure to capitalize sentence-initial words. |
