Are there situations when it's OK to break a promise?
Tom @ the BNC
10 September 2019
In this issue, we'll be writing the THINKING QUESTIONS from Session TWO as a post.
Are there situations when it's OK to break a promise?
Please share your answers in the comments section and reply to other BNC members here.
Remember to support your opinions with reasons, and be open-minded to viewpoints other than your own. Bring in the knowledge you've learnt from your Burnet News Club too!
Comments (16)
10 Sep 2019
A promise is either a written or vocal pact that you make to either do or not do something. Therefore, the person that you promise trusts you and puts faith in you to uphold your half of the deal so ,if you break it, you are abusing their trust. Also, the deal that you make can benefit other people. For example, the magna carta was signed ,in England, to say that everyone was subjected to the law ( including the king and his sheriffs) and put a limit on the king's power. It also gave rights to the citizens of the country. However, when King Charles i began his reign, he abused the power and did not adhere to the rules of the Great Charter. The result of this was the English Civil War. Therefore, you should try not to break a promise as it can lead to terrible consequences.
However, there can be situations when you have to break a promise. As, if the other party that you made the promise with have failed to uphold the conditions of the deal, then there are certain times when it may be necessary to break the terms. For example, looking back to the Magna Carta, the round heads (the people opposing Charles i) had to break the deal that they would not up rise against the cavaliers as the King had created an army to fight them.
In conclusion, I believe that most of the time you should always try to keep your promises. However, there are specific moments when you have to break conditions of pacts or deals.
https://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/videos/what-is-magna-carta
11 Sep 2019
Realy, there is no right reason to break a promise, escpecilly if its between countries. But in school, it still wont turn out well either, they might fall out or call each other names, it wont end in a good way. The only good reason i can think of to break a promise is if its a birthday. If someone says, are you going to get me a present, what is it? Most of the time you say, nothing or, youll see. But those are tiny lies to keep a secret.
Now that has made me think, is it good to lie to people just to keep a secret?
13 Sep 2019
No because if you promise something you shouldn’t break a promise because It is wrong and if you break it there is no point of keeping it.
Yes! promises should be kepte
13 Sep 2019
I think that there is sometimes you should break a promise because you might say that you will not get involved with anything that it has nothing to do with you and it starts become something else you will get involved. Or if you say that you will play with someone at dinner and you promise and you might forget and play with someone else and then it will become and argument between you and who you promised to play with then who you where playing with will be alone if you play with them and just leave them. But then there should be no reason for people to break a promise.
Thank you for this. I'm interested to know what kind of situation could 'become something else' and mean it's acceptable for you to break an earlier promise. Can you think of an example situation?
16 Sep 2019
I think that in some situations its okay to break a promise because it could escalate into a bigger and more dangerous situation which could cause someone being harmed because they didn't know it was going to happen to them and got caught by surprise for example: One of your mates tells you that they are going to do something bad to one of your other mates because they had fallen out and tells you to keep it to yourself and not tell anyone but this could harm your mate so in this situation it would be okay to break a promise.So in conclusion there are situations where it is okay to break a promise.
16 Sep 2019
A promise is a mutual agreement between to or more people. However if one person is acting unfair or against the promise I think it is then ok for the other person to break the promise as well. Both people need to work together. But when you make a promise you should always try to keep it because that is your morals and values. Sometimes it is hard to keep it when lots of people are involved, but you should use integrity to make the right choices. If people break it first there should be a consequence for breaking it, depending on how bad it is.
Thanks, vibrant_tiger. Are there any situations where one person is acting unfair or against the promise but the other person should still keep their side?
16 Sep 2019
Sometimes it depends on what you are promising. But something as big as this you should not break the promise,I think this is wrong that China are saying that they will give people freedom but from the looks of it Hong Kong looks like the victim. We did used to rule Hong Kong so maybe we should help them out in this. But that could result in war or China not sending us the thing they have made so this is a bit of a dilemma.
Thanks steady_fish. You say Hong Kong looks like the victim and we maybe the UK should help them out. What do you think the UK could do?
18 Sep 2019
absolutely
18 Sep 2019
Yes i think sometimes its OK to break promises because maybe you are being bullied and the bully tells you not to tell anybody but you have to do it to resolve the problem so it is OK to break promises sometimes even though that isnt really relevant!
18 Sep 2019
I think we should never break a promise against countries because it might end up in a argument or an attack
18 Sep 2019
no i hate when pipple do lat
18 Sep 2019
I think that you can break a promise if you mum says you can have something and you are not good and you said you broke a promise.
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