Lying your way to the top

I’m sure that we’ve all had at least one experience where a lie worked out in our favor. And likewise, an experience where telling the truth got us in trouble. Does this mean that lies can be good and the truth can be evil?

Once, many years ago, I saw a family struggling to get their child inside a car at a service station. Eventually, the mother said “We have a cake for you at home! A nice big cake! Get in the car, and we can go home and eat it!” As the child jumped into the SUV, I heard the mother whisper to an older relative “There’s no cake, I just wanted to get him in the car.”

A small incident, you might say. But it made me wonder. Does this stuff happen often at his home? If so, he could grow up thinking that “truth” is whatever you want it to be, and you can be honest and dishonest whenever it suits you. What sort of person would that philosophy turn you into?