Honesty

I originally wrote this post several months ago, but wanted to share it again because I am currently once again in the same “front-seat.” ………

So I was thinking today about the behavior of others in general.  I am an honest person.  I have no issue whatsoever telling you what I have to say and will be honest about it.  However, people in general tend to live in a luke-warm, kinda gray zone.

They find themselves putting on a show whether it be to impress or deceive.  They use what they call “white lies” to avoid hurting someone’s feelings or getting their own feelings hurt.  They create a semi-permanent bubble that they feel allows them to be self-serving to the point of dishonesty.

Sometimes the intentions of others are obvious, but many times you find yourself wondering, “why in the world would they do such a thing.”  Despite the many consistent disappointments we will have in our lives, it always comes as a surprise when we find ourselves in a situation where we have been lied to, used, deceived, manipulated, etc.  The phrase fool me once….could apply to these situations, but should it?

When we get to the point that we completely accept that people are capable of creating pain for us, haven’t we just lost the battle altogether?  It is one thing to come to terms with the fact that people are selfish, but it really is another when that is all we expect.  I realize that doing the right thing and being honest can be extremely difficult on several levels, but is doing the wrong thing and lying really that much easier?

I have to say I have been front-seat to what happens when you tell 100% of the truth and it still does not matter.  Where you are surrounded by those that lie at every cost to get what they want and you are literally breaking inside because you want so desperately to understand how people (many of whom you believed to be better than that) could possibly live with their lies.

It is at times like that where you find yourself asking, “what is honesty worth if it can be overshadowed by lies?” I have to say though, despite all, I told the truth.  Even when I heard people say, maybe you should fight lies with lies, I refused.  There was no way I was going to give away a part of the person I am by lying.  I never swayed.  I never exaggerated.  I just told the truth.  In the end, it paid off.

One thing about lying, you cannot recall all the lies you tell and in the end, all the lies become obvious.  The saddest part of all is that those that lied never learned anything.  They continue to lie.  They continue to be self-serving.  However, the importance of honesty was reinforced for me in that experience.

I was blessed with a Faith in God that has helped me get through the hardest times and I am always proud to be able to say…”I can sleep at night, can you?”  Unfortunately, we will always be faced with dishonest people.  It is an experience we cannot avoid.  What we do with those experiences is the real test.

Matthew 7:14 always comes to mind…”But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

So I say to all of you, honesty may be hard and it may be the longer road, but in the end, it is the only path worth traveling…..and to those whose lies have unfortunately touched my life….I pray for you each night……