Black and White?

I wonder, sometimes, if there is such a thing as a white lie. These past few days, since I found out about a certain lie from a certain person (no name policy applies), I've begun to doubt my own philosophy that all lies are black lies that have a detrimental effect to the trust between not only the people involved, but all bystanders too.

Without going into too much detail, the lie was placed before we really became friends; probably even before that. This, to me, seems to have a significance of some sort. The lie doesn't bother me, the revelation of it now (after all these months) only bothers me slightly, not even the continued lying and building upon it bothers me that much. Somehow I feel like I should be feeling more about it, I almost feel I should've been angry and yelled or something, at least about the loss of respect and trust I felt... or some shit like that. The thing is, I didn't actually feel as if my trust or respect was dented at all, and now I'm sat here wondering why.

Perhaps it's that this person is so very consistent in every other way, constantly proving that they say what they mean and they stick to whatever they say, no matter the personal cost. They are so big on their word that I wonder if the lie didn't dent the trust because there is an overflow of it that can't touch the whole. I guess this idea is a bit wordy so let me give you a metaphor: You fill a glass to the top with water, and it overflows, you then use a towel to mop up some of the overflow, but because it's not in the glass it has no effect on the main body of water. I don't even know if this makes sense, but it could be what's happening.

One of the other options is that the lie was placed such an amount of time ago that I no longer care about it. I was discussing it with Hayley yesterday and I think perhaps that it was, in fact, more to do with the consequences of the lie being much more powerful and detrimental than the truth. I know this is a rare thing, but I actually felt better about the truth. By this I mean that it answered some of the growing fears I'd been having in a positive way, and so the lie was more worrying than the truth.

The only thing that this has really changed is the way I see the person involved. I feel somehow that they are more fragile than before, like I might break them without meaning to, as if I'm holding a painted eggshell that I had previously thought was made of wood. I doubt very much that they can make me see them in the same robust way ever again.

I also feel like I did something without realising all of the consequences. I went into part of this relationship essentially blind. I understand why they told me the lie, I understand why they kept it, but it feels like a blindfold was put over my eyes (albeit a silk one) and has suddenly been removed.

I guess what I'm leading up to is that I do feel a bit betrayed about it. I don't feel like the trust in them has been dented, I believe them when they say they haven't lied about anything else. I just feel like it's put pressure on me to act a certain way, even though I've been acting that way since the first time we met. The lie changed nothing and everything at the same time.

As for whether this lie was black or white?
I remain undecided.