What is honesty? Is there such a thing as a completely honest person. A person that no matter what, or where, the words and phrases that pour out of their mouths will be the complete and utter truth. While I often tell my students to stay away from generalizations they can not prove I will bite the hypocritical bullet and state that I do not believe there is anyone capable of telling the truth at all times. There are many that will battle to the death in a discussion revolving around this topic in order to clear their name as the only honest person left in the world. But truth be told many of us have difficulties being honest with ourselves let alone the rest of the human population.
It's a sad reality to accept yet one we must face head on. Our society has become accustomed to accepting excuses as reasons to uphold or forgive dishonesty. Sparing feelings, playing down the severity of the lie, or my favorite:omission, have become the latest and most commonly used excuses that we accept.
The "I didn't want to hurt you's", and "I didn't think it was a big deal's" have been used as clever disguises to cover the truth of the matter which always has and always will be "I didn't care about your feelings enough to curb my dishonest behavior" , "I did what I wanted to do despite future consequences and repercussions". But what kind of world would we live in if these were the phrases being used instead of the ones we've grown to love and forgive. Where would politics, and infidelity go? Where would they fit in that kind of world? What would happen if for one day everyone answered questions directly without dancing around the actual answer. Would fairy tales have to be re-written, and education reconstructed?
While I believe man is capable of such greatness I also sadly believe that man… and I mean mankind including women are incapable of true truth. I myself fall victim to the playing down the severity of lying by consoling myself into thinking that a small lie or a white lie is not the end of the world. When in fact it is. The small lies can some times be the worst because of their ability to build and grow deceit so quickly. I must often remind myself that a lie is a lie no matter what and as I stress to my students the importance of being honest I truly feel bad for adding to a lie and temporarily blinding them from the ugly truth. It is an unfortunate circumstance that grows day by day with every lie that seeps through and destroys the most fragile part of us all: trust.
