The Undisputed Truth
We all have told a white like or two in our days. If you are too honest, you look like a cruel person, and if you don’t tell enough of the truth, you look like a fake. There is a fine line between what is real and what is not. For example, if your boyfriend asks you if he is masculine even though he just painted your right hand nails for you. You can either say a) “Baby you are the manliest man I know!” Or b) “Sweetie, you act like one of the girls…” We sometimes powder the truth with a pleasant topping. Is this right or wrong?
Since I am a girl I have heard every since excuse in the book for physical appearance. One time while getting ready for a night out on the town with the girls, I kept changing my mind on my outfit and make up. I asked my friend Heather for her opinion and she gave me the typical, “Kristine you look good, it’s time to go!” I strongly disagreed, and asked Ashley for the brutal honest answer. She came up with, “You look like you died and have risen back to life…” Although I had asked for this, when I actually heard those bitter words, my skin and emotion become quite tender. Fabricated answers are now known as the truth because we tend to spare the hurt for others. This leads to only telling others the half-truth.
Should we consider the half-truth the full truth for the sake of other’s feelings? By fabricating every answer, you are letting these people believe something for the rest of their lives that may not be the truth. Doesn’t the guilt build up that you are letting this person be happy on false pretences? Is there enough justification behind your action? You have to be right in between. No one truly knows the definition of the truth anymore. We all make up our own meanings with little tweaks here and there to help us feel better about not letting it all out. We are so obsessed with others liking us and not thinking badly of us, we lose ourselves in the reoccurring cycle of little white lies.
On the other hand there are people who tell you absolutely what comes to their mind when they first see or are asked something. Verbal diarrhea has infected many people, and shown how it is possible to go overboard with the truth. When you purposily pick out flaws of someone or something and release your feelings with a nasty tone, you are only trying to be cruel and demeaning. The way to level out this harsh and overly sugared decision is to be able to tell what you are thinking with some consideration. Instead of saying “Those jeans make your butt look like its own planet!” Or “I love those jeans on you, they make your butt look very nice.” You could say, “I don’t think those jeans are very flattering to your body type, what about that skirt you bought last week?” By letting out your thoughts in a sensitive way, you aren’t sugarcoating or being far too harsh. My mother always told me that the truth sometimes hurts, but it is always better than living a lie.
We all say we want to have friends or spouses who are 100 percent truthful. There is no such person who doesn’t lie. We all do it whether we think we are lying or not. You expect others to treat you the way you are treated, so when they lie to you how is that any different than when you only tell half the truth? You learn in math class that a half is not a full. How is it any different in this situation?
Only you can draw your line of truth and pick which side you want to reside on. People do this subconsciously, like it a self-defense technique. How do we bring this to our conscious state and realize when enough is enough? The truth is supposed to be the easiest way to deal with things, when in reality it is only the hardest thing to do. God didn’t build us with truth meters, so we have to decide for ourselves how to determine the exact amount. What will you choose?
