Telling the truth is one of the most controversial things while dealing in a relationship. Always telling the truth or make a ‘white lies’ is a choice that often to be made in a daily life, and for some people this is really principal and can affect the whole relationship. In my personal perspective, I would prefer to telling the truth especially in the relationship. My preference is based on the clear stand point and grow up process resulted by telling the truth.
First of all, telling the truth will show clear view about where the party stand. For example, if a company want to produce a low-end product with low quality, telling the truth about quality will gain respect for the company and give clear stand point for the user about the product in the market. Giving ‘white lies’ about the product will attract many customer in the beginning, but after realizing that the product is not good as it sounds, the costumer number will go down dramatically. In this case, telling the truth will create a loyal and constant costumer who are fully aware about what kind of product they will get as the consequences of the low budget they have to spent.
Secondly, one can learn and grow up by always telling the truth. Telling white lies can give a ‘secured’ feeling, which can be useful in supporting our confidence, but in the other hand this will not stimulate improvement. Admitting lack will force us improve and improve ourselves. In long term, this will stimulate us to be fair and respect ourselves. To illustrate this point, we can see from the company case above that the company realize that the product has minor points, so that probably only budget user who want to use it. If the company want to attract more customer, the company should make an improvement and optimization in the production system. Thus, they can produce better product with lower price.
Telling the truth or telling white lies are important choices that has their own consequences in relationship. However, if the decision is up to me, I will choose telling the truth, for simplicity and fair position and long-term learning process.
TOEFL listening discussions: How long should the student’s essays be?