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.
