Toefl independent writing essay

In the development of mordern society, where new ideas and values surge and keep changing people’s mindset, whether telling the true is the most important consideration is still a long-held debate. Among those hold the negative answer to this question, “telling white lies to avoid hurting the listeners’ feeling” seems to have been a strong arguement, and yet it’s, by no means, strong engough to serve as a justification for not telling the truth, which has always been the very foundation of all kinds of relationship.

First, telling the truth entails great importance because people have the right to know the truth, regarding how hard might be. Indeed, instead of revealing a sometimes painful truth, people prefer telling a “white lie”, in order to hold the listener harmless from the possible consequences brought by the truth. This is quite common nowadays, say, for example, in a doctor-patient disclosure delimma, where the doctors, facing a cancer patient, feel reluctant to inform the latter of his/her illness considering that the psycological status of the patient may be negatively affected. However, we shouldn’t omit the simple fact that patients has the right to know about the truth about him/herself, and they should be the one who get to decide whether to continue a treatment or not. As much kind as a white lie seems to be, the doctor hiding the truth with a lie deprive the patient of the foudemental right to know the truth.

Moreover, not telling the truth comes at a high price and causes irrevocable consequences, such as breaking the trust, which is the cornerstone in all kinds of relationship. It is always easier to crush the trust than to earn one. With one single lie discovered, the whole wall of trust, which in many cases taking years to build up, collapses in a second. This happens, not only in interpersonal relationships, but also in business relationships. In the supply chain of a supermarket, for example, it usually takes years for a manufacturer to become a long-term stable supplier of a supermarket, while it only takes a second for the supermarket to tear the contract into pieces if one under-qualitied products found.

Also, telling lies can be quite addictive and exhausting. A liar, when telling the first lie, must constantly tell the second and third lies to cover the first one from being revealed. As more and more lies accumulated to cover up the previous ones,a vicious cycle generates with every lie buried underground becomes a mine interconnected with each other that may, at any moment, blow up and cause serious accumulative damages to both the one who tell and hear. It is a heavy burden for the liar to hold up so many secrect and also a mentally exhausting process to keep the cycle running.

In a nutshell, always telling the truth are of significant importance in any relationship, as it protects the right to be informed, avoids devestating consequences of breaking the trust and saves people from falling into the “lying poor”.

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