Few people want to admit that there are times when the Little White Lie may actually not be such a bad thing. It's easier to hang onto to the black-and-white thinking we were taught as children, which is, "All lies are bad." Contrary to popular belief, I actually believe there are times when the occasional (OCCASIONAL) white lie may make one a better person. (Give me a few seconds until I see if lightning strikes me for saying that..... Ok. Nothing happened. I'll continue.)

Sometimes, just as we can have too much of a good thing, we can actually be guilty of doing too little of a bad thing - telling the occasional white lie.

In its purest form, the "Little White Lie" is told so that we don't hurt someone else's feelings. All other lies are lies - plain and simple. While I am secure in my knowledge that I generally never tell the plain and simple lie, I have to say that a world without the Little White Lie would be a crueler one and may not be a better one.

The Little White Lie is what we tell when a friend calls and asks if we'd like company, and we don't want to say, "You know, I'd rather be alone than spend time with you right now." There may be friends who would understand that, but more often than not the friend who expresses a wish to come by and visit and who is told we don't want them to would feel at least a little diminished.

The Little White Lie may be what we tell when someone asks us a question and when the answer to that question is too personal. Rather than say, "I'm not answering you because you just asked a question that's too personal," we may give a Little White Lie answer to keep our own privacy. Again, there is the option of just being candid and saying what we think about the question; but sometimes the Little White Lie is more like the potpourri burner we put on when we know a guest is coming over. Its - in its own way - the nicer thing to do.

Little White Lies need to be used sparingly, and they should be tailor-made for the recipient or the circumstances. If they're not there's a good chance they aren't the benevolent form of lie and are, instead, regular lies pretending to be Little White Lies.

Kindness and social grace should be at the root of the Little White Lie, and when they are it is they that add the "whiteness" to a small lie. There are small, regular, lies that people sometimes use for reasons other than kindness and social grace; and its important to remember that the Little White Lie can seem to come, holding a white daisy while the little, regular, lie comes with that little "black mark" those of us raised as Catholics were told would be imprinted on our soul if we committed the sin of lying.

When it comes to right and wrong, there are people who believe that things aren't black and white and that, instead, there's a lot of gray area. I still pretty much see right and wrong in black and white. Its just that if we reason it out and consider what is truly moral we may sometimes realize that sometimes even the sin of lying can be white.

I believe if we know, in our hearts, that our occasional (again, OCCASIONAL) white lie is one that has roots in compassion, or even a sense of morality; then telling that lie would make us a better person - not a bad one.

Breaking the black-and-white rules of right-and-wrong, however, requires great caution, because it can be quite easy to lie to ourselves about our true reasons for that occasional lie. Reasoning out gray areas can be a challenge, but I believe if we commit to always being brutally honest with ourselves about our motives for any lie, then maybe that honesty we have with ourselves and the honesty that is part of our usual aura will make up for the occasional Little White Lie we may feel compelled to tell.