Do you agree or disagree?
Always telling the truth is the most important consideration in any relationship.
Our life is integrated with communication with different kind of people. Every one of us in different social roles, experiences several relationships with the people around.
Considering three major social relationships; doctor-patient, seller-buyer, and parent-child, it is clear that telling the truth is not always beneficial. The following article supports the notion for each category.
It is hard to ignore the role of one’s doctor in building hope for his patients. A doctor should create hope although he believes the patient is dealing with a incurable illness. Telling the truth about the impossibility of being treated would make the patient lose hope, a definite element for a patient survival. Ample concrete evidence shows the constructive role of hope in medical treatment. An overwhelming number of studies found that patient’s view to his illness affects treatment process for better or worse. A long-term study on four-hundred men and women with cancer substantiated that those who view their illness as a curable one survived five years longer than those view it negatively. This indicates the fact that honesty should sometimes be overlooked in doctor-patient relationship.
A further point to keep in mind is that telling lie is mandatory in some social aspects. A sales representative should be be able to present the products in a costumer attracting manner. Exaggerating the advantages of buying a product and understating the disadvantages, comparing the product with its competitors and telling lies about the downfalls of its rivals, are critical in succeeding in the competitive world market.
With no doubt, parents have to tell lies to their children in some situations. A representative example would be a Santa Clause. A child believes that Santa really exists and is happy dreaming about the gifts Santa gives him. Telling the truth and revealing the secret behind the Santa’s story would have nothing but shattering his dreams. Moreover, children are psychologically susceptible to catastrophic events. According to psychologists, children should not be informed about their close friends or family’s loss. According to Dr. Maria Thomas, child psychology expert, a kid’s mother’s death should be kept secret by the age of six. Telling the truth in such a situation would bring about sudden psychological disorders.
To wrap it up, not always truth is useful; treatment outcomes can benefit the effects of false hopes, businesses grow with marketing lies, and children imaginations boost with imaginary stories based on lies. Although truth may sound like a pleasant term, relationships sometimes require the element of lie too!
TOEFL listening discussions: A conversation between a university student and an employee in the student services center