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An Nguyen

Mrs. Angluo

Period 5 AP English

9 September, 2016

Necessary Sin

Imagine you were going to an event that could possibly affect you for good or, depending

on whether certain knowledge is leaked to your parents, bad. When you disclose where you are

going to your parents, you claim that youre going to a college fair, which isnt that far from the

truth. Your parents buy the lie and let you go. That was what some of my club members had to

do to go to an outing for an LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, etc.)

oriented event. According to Viorst, in an essay titled, The Truth about Lying, lying is one

thing that one must not do, in the fact that telling the truth is always better. In a way, she is

correct, such as when one has to talk to a Psychologist in a mental hospital, or to a law officer

when giving a statement, or when talking to any superior in general. But there are other times

when lying could mean the difference between life and death. Such as in World War II, when the

allies feigned a military buildup to fool the Germans. Another case would be the lies that

LGBTQ+ teens have to say each day, or even the lie that Obi-Wan told to Luke about the nature

of Darth Vaders relationship to him. Thus, lying would be a necessary evil in some cases.

One such case would be in order to fool a person in order to gain the upper hand. In

World War II, the Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Free France, etc.) had hatched a plan

to retake France in a beach landing. Unfortunately, the Germans, the Allies enemy, had been

able to pick up on some information leaked, and had managed to do recon on the scale of the
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military exercise in preparation for the landing. One would assume that with this information in

hand, the Germans were able to use that information to that advantage and prevent the Allies

from landing, right? Wrong. What the Germans thought was the actual landing was in fact a false

invasion force made up of dummies and inflatables. The Allies purposefully leaked information

and set up false units led by actual generals such as Patton in order to make the act more

convincing. They faked an invasion force with maneuvers at a location which would be easily

connected to a set location to give a sense that they would invade there. In reality, the Allies

planned to invade Normandy, where the Germans didnt expect them to invade, and thus,

Operation Overlord, more commonly known as D-Day, was able to take place, albeit with a few

hiccups, which gained the allies a foothold in mainland Europe. Were it not for this lie, the world

as we know it, wouldnt have even come to exist.

Another case would be for one to protect ones self. About a year ago, I led a Gay-

Straight Alliance (GSA) a club dedicated to spreading information about LGBTQ+ issues and

bettering the school community for LGBTQ+ youth. One of the events we went to was a

convention called Models of Pride, a convention with workshops and a college fair. Some of our

members wanted to go, but there was one problem, they were in the closet, meaning that their

parents didnt know of the nature of their sexuality/gender identity because of personal safety

concerns (fear of being disowned, kicked out of the house, etc.). Thus, some of my members had

to partially lie, saying that they were going to a college fair. In reality, they were partially

truthful, the event did contain a college fair, and they simply omitted the part about it being

LGBTQ+ to their parents. The students even had to hide the stuff they got from Models of Pride

to prevent their lie from being revealed. The main reason that they lied was for their own safety.

Even when we live in a more accepting time, there are still adults out there who are willing to
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sever connections simply because their loved one loved the same gender, or saw themselves

differently. Had the students told the truth, they wouldve been punished brutally, or worse,

kicked from their homes. As such, some of my members lied out of self-preservation.

The last case that could be effectively noted would be to defend another person. Such a

case could be proven in the movie, Star Wars. More specifically, the Original trilogy, (Episode

IV: A New Hope-Episode VI: Return of the Jedi) This specific trilogy told the story of a young

man named Luke Skywalker, and his fight against the Galactic Empire, an intergalactic

dictatorship made up of the Emperor, and Darth Vader, the Emperors right hand. In A New

Hope, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Lukes mentor, tells of how Skywalkers father was a cargo pilot and a

Jedi, who was slain by Darth Vader. However, Kenobi took the identity of Skywalkers father to

his grave when he faced against Vader, and died. Vader later reveals to Skywalker in the

following movie, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, that Vader was in fact, Skywalkers

father. Skywalker reconciles the fact that his father was a villain, and with some help from his

friends and his mentors, sees that Vader may have a good side left under all of his nefarious

attitude. By Return of the Jedi, the final movie, Skywalker tries to get Vader to come back to the

good side, and he succeeded, only when the Emperor threatened Skywalkers safety by

electrocuting him. One question that could be noted, what if Kenobi had told the truth about

Skywalkers father from the start?

Logically, Skywalker at that point in his life wouldve gone to try to reunite with him.

Throughout the movie, Skywalker was shown to have an impatient attitude, more shown when

his friends are in danger, furthermore, the fact that he wears dark clothing by Episode VI,

implied with a dark, foreboding atmosphere at times, at how Skywalker ran the risk of turning to

the dark side. This risk is more prominently shown in episodes V and VI, when he struck Vader
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down in a vision, only to unmask Vader and find his own face under it, implying his risk of his

fall to the dark side should he try to take revenge against Vader as a warning. Had Skywalker

known the truth about his father in the first movie, when he hadnt fully matured yet, he

wouldve eagerly done anything to regain connection to a father he had never met, even if he did

lead a dictatorship, and so the fight for freedom in the trilogy wouldve been compromised, or at

least may have taken longer. Thus, Kenobi lied in order to prevent Skywalker from doing

anything foolish.

In short, there are several cases where lying is simply necessary to do, even if moral

implications say otherwise. Though in looking through the evidence, for self-preservation, to

gain the upper hand, or to even protect others from doing rash decisions, one could dare to ask a

simple question. Since one could assume that lying is meant as preservation based on the given

facts, would it be considered immoral to preserve ones-self, or others? And when would one

have to compromise their morals in order to save themselves?