Tweaking the truth where necessary

I don't really like the term 'lying'. It's such a negative word and it's immediately considered sinful, but I don't know why because each and everyone of us lie on a regular basis. 

To me, to lie, is to deliberately withhold the truth for personal gain or to hurt others. I prefer the term 'to tweak the truth where necessary'. Long winded I know, but there really is a fatal difference between a lie and a white lie. 

Now whether you think you lie or not, you do it all the time, even if it is completely innocent. Where girls are concerned, we generally lie about our weight, how much something cost; we say it was in the sale, but 9 times out of 10 we just really needed that handbag. My favourite lie from girls though is,  'I'm on my way' or  'I'm ready' when actually, you're still in bed, and it's going to take you at least half an hour to get where you're meant to be. All of this is completely innocent, white lies if you will, but it's lying all the same isn't it?

I've lied on numerous occasions throughout my life, but never with the intention to hurt someone. Just little things like, 'This casserole's great Mum' when it's actually rather revolting, or when I'd tell her I was at a mate's house but we'd definitely be walking the streets in the dark thinking we're invincible. I lie almost everyday when my Mum's shouting at me from downstairs whether I'm out of bed yet and I instinctly say yes from the warmth of my bed, and when she asks me how much money I've spent on something, I generally tell her half as much as what is actually true. In my defence, I remind all the parents of Father Christmas, the tooth fairy... they were disappointingly all lies, you crushed my dreams.

Other than this however, I pride myself on honesty. If I didn't like my friend's haircut or what she was wearing I'd tell her, if I don't like someone, I won't be two faced, giving the impression I do like them. I don't understand why honesty is such a difficult concept. It makes life so much easier and honesty is one of the things I value most in a person. In fact, it unsettles me the ease with which some people lie. They simply roll off their tongue until they almost convince themselves. It starts as tweaking the truth now, but they have shown the potential to lie ...

Today I managed to accidently snap a key in a lock at work. Thanks to my patience and skill at picking locks, I managed to carefully extract the other half of the key with a paper clip and a pair of scissors. Stood with the evidence in my hand, I realised I had two choices: I could lie, hide the evidence, tell my boss the key is simply lost or I could own up. I decided to own up. It would have been easier to avoid the hassle of getting told off, but quite simply I had nothing to hide, it was an accident and  I'm not a very good liar anyway, too much of a nervous disposition and an influential conscience. This was minor, nothing life changing or that could hurt somebody, but then you get those lies that are designed for this sole purpose, such as cheating in a relationship or committing a crime. 

Now I'm against lying, but I am not so against tweaking the truth where necessary. It's up to the individual to differentiate between lying and tweaking the truth. Any form of lying will eventually catch up with you, the difference in consequences will be however, your justification.