White lies are told not only to protect the other person, but to protect the teller from fallout .
You know how I found this out?
Trying on an outfit that I loved, I walked out of the dressing room and asked my husband how it looked, (though I sort of knew the truth).
“Honey” he says to me “that not only makes you look dumpy, but it looks like you are an old woman trying to stay young”
God bless him for not telling the white lie to spare my feelings - or himself from a pre conceived wrath of my feelings.
Yes, my feelings were hurt. But that was my problem and I loved him more for telling me the truth. Especially because I knew the truth, but wanted to hear something else.
White lies are complicated when told, simple and perhaps brutal when they are not.
Good point. We continuously learn...: )