When It's Okay to Lie

This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedanta. It's a story that is familiar to every American. A young George Washington chops down his father's prized cherry tree. When his father confronts him about the deed, young George doesn't hide, he doesn't deflect, he doesn't minimize.

I cannot tell a lie, he says. I did cut it. Instead of scolding him, George's father embraces him. He declares that his son's honesty is worth more than a thousand trees. This tale, first popularized in the early 19th century, is one of America's most cherished moral parables.

Washington's birthday and the truthful he of the cherry tree would look down on me and frown. I could say that I It celebrates honesty. and the courage that often accompanies it. Yet the story's enduring power rests on a deep irony. The parable is almost certainly a fabrication, a lie invented to teach the importance of telling the truth.

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