I've written here in the past of how I hate to lie unless it's absolutely necessary or I'm talking to someone I'm scared of, due to how they could harm me with the truth. What I forgot to mention is that those aren't the only situation where you might have to not tell the truth.
A friend of mine recently got upset with me due to how straightforward I was with her. And although we've gotten past that issue and have settled it, I realised she wasn't upset with the fact that I told her the truth, but was upset with the timing.
You see, up till now, when talking to my friends, I always make sure to tell them how it is at that very moment, because I've always felt that was the right thing to do. But it turns out that sometimes, in as much as you don't want to tell a lie, it is also not appropriate for you to tell the blunt truth at that moment, because that will be you being insensitive.
So rather than tell that person what it is, you could cleverly use words that doesn't necessarily say if it's a lie or the truth, depending on where you are with that friend, or the vibe in the room. Like for instance, let's say your friend was in a car with another friend of theirs and they have driven recklessly and ended up getting into an accident that claims the life of the other friend.
The last thing you want to do at that moment when your friend is at the hospital crying and saying that it's their fault the other person died, is to agree with them bluntly, like someone without any form of emotion. But instead, you could try to not talk about it, to not respond to that question, but instead try to console them and make them feel better.
So we still don't have to lie, we just have to know when to tell the truth, in order not to cause more harm than good, because I assume that we telling the truth in the first place is us trying to do some good.
And this is because trying to be the honest blunt guy at that moment could end up causing more harm than good,and I'm sure that's the last thing any of us would want to do.
Some truth are harsh to and I think it's necessary to say truth considering the situation and we need to understand when we can say it.
I also understand the importance of being truthful, but the timing also matters.