In a Junior English class last week, the students were asked a question: If you were wrongly accused of a crime, but will be let off if you confess, would you do it? If you continue to claim your innocence, you will be hanged. What would you do?
This question comes out of the current topic: Salem witchcraft trials. The reaction was mixed. To those who said they would not confess, the teachers asked, "Have you ever lied before, in your entire life?"
I won't lie now. I absolutely have lied before in the past. If you ask me, however, what I would do in that situation, it would be very hard for me to say that I was guilty, if I knew I was not. Would I be willing to give my life for it? Probably not, to be honest. But, if this was a purely theoretical question, I would emphatically tell you that of COURSE I wouldn't admit to a crime that I didn't commit. What's the difference? I value my life more than I value whether people think I committed a crime, especially if the situation was made clear. Why should I throw the rest of my life away just to prove a point? On the other hand, why do I have such a hard time admitting that I would disregard my principles of telling the truth to save my life? I want to believe that my principles mean something.
What I have gathered is that while my principles do mean something, they don't always mean AS MUCH. Especially if my life is on the line. I can live and spend the rest of my life living my principles, but I don't get that chance if I choose that moment to be stubborn.
Why is it okay to tell lies to parents, to friends, but when it comes to telling a lie that can only help save your skin, we freak out and bring out all these principles that we would be going against.
Is it okay to lie? When?
