When We Are Being Honest

Have you ever tried being profoundly honest to everyone including yourself? Have you ever felt that you are simply so blunt or people tell you so? Or perhaps are you kind of person who is honest and blunt?

Yes, we are taught to be honest, to people and to ourselves. Yes, we can find it in every religious and moral teaching that honesty is important. But then, do we also realize that sometimes, or most of times, people hate honesty? do we realize that we ourselves also fear being honest?

It is when you are within a community, or within an organisation, or within your very own friendship that
people around you say that it's better to tell the truth and to talk to everytime there is any discrepancy. They believe when you talk behind it is a symbol of betrayal and cowardliness. They highly discourage such attitude and you do agree. Idealistically, who can oppose?

Only after you finally become that person, who is really honest to yourself and others, person who is blunt and tell everything in your mind reasonably, you'll realize that all of that idealism is a mere hypocrisy. You'll realize people are merely bullshitting about the importance of honesty and importance of truth. They are the ones who encourage it but also ones who hate it. Perhaps it's only the matter of image and general mindset the reason they tell you so. Perhaps it's the matter of formality. But it's surely not what they will accept themselves when honesty and truth come up to their face.

People oft are unreasonable for decisions they make and rules they create, oft illogical and subjective in exercising their authority upon people. They believe they are absolutely right. They believe because their intentions are good thus what they do and decide are good either. Or even, because their egos tell them they have right and personal reasons for that, it makes it justified for them to be and to do whatever it is that actually is wrong but right for them.

Now it's about personal issue whether they are ready to meet truth that they are actually wrong or make mistakes, is about personal feeling whether they are prepared to hear critics and other people's opinions. It is exactly about personality whether they are kind of person who is okay to listen to honesty.

Eventually and Unfortunately, they are not.

Honesty and Truth are painful. They hurt very much.

If you are a person who is honest and blunt, who says and tells everything as the way they are, who believes in idealism of the teaching about the importance of honesty and truth, who agrees that you must not become a coward bitch that can only talk behind, who thinks that by telling truth will open the doors of solvency towards problems, who feels relieved when people see and hear who you are and what you think, that means you are that PUBLIC ENEMY.

People don't want you to be honest. People hate the truth. It's hurt to hear them. They'll dislike you if you tell them so. Not to mention, it's humane to be wrong and to be illogical, right? It's perfectly common for people to be imperfect, right?

Truth is bitter. Truth is rude. Honesty is mean. Honesty is offensive. You dare say showing them, means you dare become the villain. Spit them out and in a blink you are isolated. People will badmouth you on your back about how insensitive and selfish you are. People will see you as that bastard who is impolite and arrogant.

The problem with honesty is it doesn't work hand in hand with people's self-defense mechanism. We all know we are full of flaws. We have bad sides as well as good sides. We all have our very own deepest and darkest secrets we hide and don't want them to surface seen by others. We oft pretend being someone and something else to protect ourselves. Even sometimes we must smile to hide and to forget the sorrow so that we can keep moving on with life. Honesty will bizarrely destroy that wall we build and makes us as if we were walking naked in the middle of town. It's just shameful.

Then again, it doesn't only trouble others. It also troubles the ones who are honest.

You won't be able to fool yourself that you are insecure, that you pretend to be okay when everything doesn't go your way. You will always see the worst of yourself and must accept it as part of you. You know you are twisted and ugly and being honest to yourself will just mean you throw knives to your own chest. You're sad and hurt, and honesty makes you unable to pretend as if there were no stormy clouds in your heart.

Because once you become honest, it's not only being honest to others but automatically also yourself.

However, must we become dishonest? Must we become a fraud? Putting on mask to fake who we are, what we think and how we feel?

Because sometimes being honest may open the doors of chance to change and improvement. Sometimes being honest will allow us to face reality and then step forward. Sometimes it's important to look back and evaluate how far we've raced with life, to truly see ourselves and then give a smile or even laughter. Because we are imperfect, isn't it easier and less tiring to simply just admit it then say we are sorry, rather than to keep excusing and pretending? Because it's okay to be wrong and make mistakes, isn't it more relieving to have opportunity to talk about it and then we can reconcile with those we already hurt by our wrongdoings?

Because telling truth and being true will let us see the truth itself and see our true selves, will make us realize that people are just not that beautiful as much as we are not. Then it enables us to love them as much as we are supposed to love ourselves, or vice versa. Just like children who are innocent and cry when they are hungry or thirsty, and blurt everything they feel. It may trigger some arguments, but then they reach and can find understanding, then shake hands as a proof they are cool, then apologize for what they've done that may have offended, then forgive each other because peacefulness and togetherness are just too much fun to be crushed by simple clashes.

But then again, we are merely humans. Perhaps it's part of humanity to stay fake, to feel safe being lied. Maybe it's easier to walk against the world when we don't have to worry about those we step on.

So readers, which one do you choose? Honesty or Dishonesty? Truth or Lies? Words on your face or on your back?