January 3, 2014

Well I’ve spent most of my morning and early afternoon updating my blog. So far I’ve got the theme done and some other odds and ends. Let me know what you think.

On that note, todays daily post deals with honesty;

Is it possible to be too honest, or is honesty always the best policy?

I don’t think it’s possible to be 100% honest 100% of the time. We are all guilty of those infamous ‘little white lies’. According to the dictionary the definition of a lie is;

1. A false statement deliberately presented as being true; a falsehood.

2. Something meant to deceive or give a wrong impression.

When someone asks you if you like their new haircut and you hate it, what do you say? Are you going to say the truth? I doubt it. Why hurt that person’s feelings if a little white lie makes them feel good about themselves? See what I mean? How is it possible to be 100% truthful?

I try to be as truthful as I can. But, in that same sense I will not hurt someone’s feelings intentionally if a little white lie works better. So yes, I lie. A little, sometimes. Am I a liar? I don’t think so. I am trying to be a kind person and sometimes you have to make a choice between being honest and being kind. I would rather be kind.

That being said, I will sometimes not use those little white lies, if I think someone I care about is about to be hurt more if I wasn’t honest, then hurt for a few minutes with my honesty. If someone comes to me for advice, I will be honest with what I think. Then it is up to them to take my advice, or not.

“A truth that’s told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.”
― William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”
― Mark Twain

I lived with a pathological liar for years. Believe me when I say I know what lies sound like.

What Is a Pathological Liar?

A pathological liar lies compulsively and impulsively, almost without thinking about the consequences of his action. He lies regularly on a spontaneous basis even if he gains no benefit from it, or even if he traps himself into it. A pathological liar cannot control his impulse to lie and it is usually a self-defeating trait.

He was narcissistic and everything (almost) that came out of his mouth was a lie. Unfortunately I didn’t learn that till it was too late. Ah, I was young and naive.

As I said, I don’t think it’s possible to be 100% truthful. One should strive to be as honest as possible though. Lying just breaks trust and it’s almost impossible to get that trust back.

I don’t understand people who lie for no reason, I really don’t. I think it would be hard to be a liar. How can you keep track of lies? They do have a tendency to grow. Then you’re covering lies with more lies. Terrible way to live.

So for me, I’ll be as honest as I can. I’m lazy, I don’t want to have to work that hard to keep the lies straight.