Is Omission Betrayal?

So I succumbed to popular culture recently, and found myself in front of my t.v. watching the movie, "Little Blackbook." An interesting enough movie, with an all to unexpected ending (I enjoy movies more when they have unexpected endings). The inherent theme of this movie was a particular question, "Is omission betrayal?" In other words, does omitting the truth of a given situation constitute a lie?

To elaborate more fully on this point, I'll discuss the plot of the movie in more detail as an illustration. Male lead character withholds information from current girlfriend regarding previous girlfriends. Current girlfriend is assuaged with curiosity concerning his past relationships and goes on a hunt to learn more details about these women. Current girlfriend learns that a previous girlfriend still has deep feelings for this guy and he still maintains a friendship with this ex-girlfriend. The question becomes then, "Is omission betrayal?"

Was the male lead in this movie betraying the love and trust of his current girlfriend by not mentioning his ongoing friendship with an ex-girlfriend? What a silly question, and I respond with an emphatic, YES!!! Just because he didn't blatantly lie concerning his past relationships, doesn't mean he was being truthful to his current girlfriend.

So why am I so concerned with omissions that make the equivalent of lies? I recently began experiencing my own real life example of such omissions. In my case though there is no romantic involvement, just a dear friendship. What I've deduced through my inward reflections is that true friends share their lives with one another and don't hold back (sometimes even to the point of causing pain).

I'd rather a friend show enough respect for me as a person to share their lives than to hold back what they think would cause pain. Please, don't treat me like a child by assuming I can't handle the truth of the situation. It hurts far more your distrust of me, than the actual information you could have shared (which I found out anyway).

Okay, so I promise my emotional rantings on this site will be reserved to this one posting. If you've read this post all the way through and are completely confused then rest assured you just read something that doesn't pertain to our friendship (though maybe it gave you something to think about in your relationships with others). Though if you read this article and have a sinking feeling you've got some explaining to do, then say a quick prayer and pick up your phone.