Honesty

I am a true believer of the phrase "Honesty is the best policy". 

What? How shocking!

I hear you guys. It is shocking, and you guys will be even more shocked to find that I think this applies in every scenario. Even if it comes to you having to comment on your friend's ukulele prowess, where in truth there was not much prowess displayed during your friend's performance. Even if it comes to informing mom about who you are going out with, despite your mom not liking the particular friend(s) whom you are heading out with. I don't think lying our way out of difficult situations like these is the best solution. Tell the truth, or at least the part that you can afford to tell.

Let's come back to the first example. Your friend just played a song on the ukulele, and wants to know your opinion on how well they sounded. Unfortunately for you, if truth be told, your friend did not sound that good on the ukulele and could do with more practice. But still, there's the struggle to not hurt your friend's feelings as well, by telling them that they did not sound very good. I'm not saying you should be all blunt and brutally honest and say "Dude you sounded just terrible!". However, I don't think lying and saying they sounded good after all will solve the problem. Here is the reason why. Let's assume you are afraid to tell the truth and tell your friend that they sounded splendid on the ukulele. Your friend is emboldened by this praise and goes on to perform to some other people who aren't exactly the most tactful people around. As a result, they mock your friend's playing of the ukulele and your friend ends up hurt and broken. Painful, isn't it? Whereas, if you tactfully tell your friend something along the lines of "Some of it was pretty good, but I think with just a little practice, you'll be brilliant! :)" then your friend will practice more and improve themselves before performing in front of people, and hence may not have to face such hurtful comments.

There are plenty of examples I wanted to cover but honestly I don't think you guys will be thrilled to see an entire novella squeezed into a blog post so I'll try and wrap up :) Basically, do not ever think lying will get you out of trouble because it doesn't. Seriously. There is a saying that "telling one lie leads to more lies" and honestly I have seen it come true in my life before. Even if it is something unpleasant, just say it already! Don't be all two-faced and act all sugar and spice to people you do not like, and then talk bad stuff about them behind their backs :( I mean if you have a problem with someone, go take it out on the person who is actually being a problem to you instead of being cowardly and childish by just talking rumours and acting sad like you cannot do anything about it. The truth is that usually, there IS something you can do about any problem you face. You just have to be brave and face your problems head-on instead of hiding and inadvertently dropping hints with your ridiculous double-sided behaviour. Like, you ain't no double-sided tape to have a necessity to have two sides to you. Just say what you really think, even if it isn't very nice. People will (by and by) appreciate knowing what you really think, instead of having to try and see through your little facade.

If you didn't have the stamina to read this entire post, just have a look at the two words below:

BE REAL.