Honesty

Honesty, a Hash demeanor

Most people would rather hear the "truth" than most lies and most often, the truth Hurts but heals in the end while the lies soothe at first but devastate once revealed.  Quoting the saying "what you don't know does not hurt you" is to say that the truth is pointless if it is not already known or suspected. Truth and lies represent the essence of honesty when practicing politics, diplomacy, religion and relationship. Frankly, the core evolvement of society lies between both the lie and the truth poles, and the two may NOT be represented by the negative and positive poles of energy traffic. The fundamental question that is to be answered is critical to societal conventions and more importantly, to human's origin. What is truth to lies and what are lies without truth?

Politicians swear on the holy bible regardless of their respective religious beliefs. Just as much as a serial killer sitting on the testifying bench answering questions that will ultimately define whether or not he should be condemned to death or walk out a free man. After swearing on the bible, which truth should prevail? The One that he killed 3 young children in order to gain recognition or the truth that he is not going to condemn himself for nothing? Whichever one he chooses to tell, the result will eventually produce an outcome, an outcome that may be favorable to the serial killer as long as he stays true to what he wants while information about the facts are not known.

Truth and lies are conditional coordinates of instances of which the outcomes MUST shift acceptable means of action. With a growing world of 7 billion people of all kinds we know to be on this planet, grouped together through common cultural heritages, we learn from the past to live the present shaping a future of our own. A lot were true or considered truth in ancient past that are now hideously incorrect information or lies if you may call it. Lies can become true just as truth can become lies over time.

The relationship between the truth and lies a person tells and the person, is the outcome of the situation(s). Socrates died by choice when he died acknowledging that he could shift the means of action against his teaching in exchange for his life. But what is a life if lived without standing out of the crowd, without marking on the stones of this world's history, without claiming what you hold to be true to you regardless of how many people calling it lies? The bible is full of lies, no need to call any names, and nevertheless they are famous for such lies. However some of us say, "Who are we to question the bible because whatever we do not know surpasses our spiritual limit, another cliché worth shedding lights upon but let's not go there.

Honesty in Politics and Diplomacy:

Politicians and diplomats are essentially identical, functioning on different basis of representation. A politician is representing ideological perspectives at all time while a diplomat portrays the apparent truth to reach goals mostly set by politicians. Truth apparently is a limitation set by those who lie and expecting honest people to play by the rules they set. Rules that are detrimental, driven by self-interest with no regard to the consequences of actions committed by them to others while they would not allow such actions committed to them or on their watch, a fragment of acts of the super powers of the world.

Honesty matters to politicians just as it is a key weakness of diplomats and for diplomats. You have probably heard of the Haitian saying that says "Dan pouri toujou gen fòs sou bannann mi." it means "Rotten teeth are strong on ripped bananas." Being honest can make you righteous, but honestly, it makes you weak diplomatically and politically. As a prime example, take a look back at Bill Clinton, the former president of the U.S., a Democrat. When an alleged story surfaced that he was involved in an affair with a staff, as you already know the details, the former, at the time, acting president was forced to publicly state some facts while playing diplomacy with the rest.

The opponent meanwhile could not be any happier to have such a leveraging power over the president which resulted in an impeachment, a very rare act in the American politics. Not only did honesty from the president empower his opponents, telling the truth hurt him in the beginning. Nevertheless, Bill Clinton remained one of the most effective and famous president the U.S. had ever seen.

Honesty in Religion:

Telling a lie is religiously wrong, and it is considered a sin. A sin is an attractive weakness that can cause you your eternal life if you believe in paradise. The holy bible or any directives of righteousness condemns the act of lying and dishonesty. The consequences for lying can be detrimental, and sometimes, even cause your death, radicalism.

Religions of all kind are bounded by appropriate literature based upon the shared belief. Literatures of which the origins are told to be sacred and believers believe and non-believers just don't care. Believers often acknowledge the lack of perfection within themselves, and they rely on forgiveness from the gods they pray to. Believers act in certain circumstances as if they never encountered the scriptures and believe it or not, it is the human instinct, we act on impulse more than we think things through before we act. Non-believers on the other hand act with freedom from all sort of obligations set by the church or any gods for all that matter. However non-believers do commit impulsive acts, but they just not as crucial as for a believer.

Although religion is one of the best thing ever created according to Adams Smith, but one must keep in mind that religion is the portrayal of those who practice it alongside a “holy book”. As it is a great instrument of peace, religions have also been used as a disguise to steal from the weak, to blind the poor and obscure the less educated. For example, the western countries did it all over Africa and the Caribbean using religion as a cover. Let’s not get too deep into religion, and after all, this is just a blog. Nevertheless we must know that religion is a blind spot and the only important device that can be useful is “faith” according to holy books. Faith is merely a thing, although it is something because it has been current for centuries. But has anyone ever counted on faith before all other options have been depleted? Of course some arrogant pastor or some smart intellectual would be able to play with the letters of the alphabet to say YES to the previous question, but other than for reasons for which believers know that their gods would abandon them, faith is always the last option, not ASPIRIN.

Honesty in Relationship:

Relationships are always temporary. As much as we the people believe in everlasting relationships, we have yet to learn to be honest with ourselves never mind the rest of the world. The word relationship tends to evoke the presence of love, yet we, human beings relate through hate better than we do through love, why is that?

            Harmonious relationships are harder to keep than hateful ones and that is in part because of honesty. We can always be honest with each other to say how much we hate one another, yet we whisper when we’re saying how much we love each other. We constantly fail to make it official when we know we no longer love or care about the relationship we take part in, an act of dishonesty, and why we do that is complicated. Some see it as cowardice, yet we do it for particular reasons. Whether it is for materialistic reasons, to avoid loneliness or heartfelt feelings of abandonment, we act dishonestly to get our ways, the selfishness of mankind.

            In a relationship, there is for the most part a loser and a winner as quoted in “love, a made-up thing”, but once in a blue moon one may find two winners and very likely to find two losers. However, most of the times we fail to initiate conversations that dig right into our thoughts of somebody unless we are mad, drunk, and high or hypnotized after some good sex. We act dishonestly because we think we care too much, or we don’t want to hurt the other partner. As stated above, lies soothe at first but devastate in the end while the truth hurts in the beginning and free you afterwards. If we all had the courage to be honest from the start, what would you say to your love partner right now?

            Whether you lie or tell the truth, neither is significant without the other. Sometimes people demand to be lied to and sometimes the truth is simply too heavy to be handled. Let’s use this short scenario: your mother just got shot and died in front of you, and your father is in the proximity of the direction of the bullet’s destination and behind you a woman says “the husband shot her.” What would you think at that time, and obviously both your mother and father were in good loving spirit. The decision you make reveals the status of your acceptance of honesty, how immune you are to truth and lies. Most people like to feel good about themselves just like some others like to make people feel good because that is how they feel good about themselves. Sometimes people lie to make others feel better, a good or bad act is neither up to you nor the world to judge but the satisfaction of the need presented to the actors at the time.

            The essence of life is all about the choices we make. When we choose to lie or tell the truth, we are scarring life in a way that we can never walk back toward, for every action is particular in its own way connected to other actions or not. Religions, Politics and relationships may have different outcomes to the predicaments of lies and truths, but in the end, they are all acts of dishonesty that make of human a coward species living with the strongest resource nature could have ever provided to us free of charge, the MIND.