Pinocchio

We love being lied to, perhaps because the truth more often than not does hurt. Ask any guy or girl who is single what they want most in a relationship and one of the most common responses you'll hear will be, "I just want someone who will be honest with me." But what most people don't admit, or maybe just don't realize is that what they really want is someone to comfort them.

"Does this make me look fat?" she says as she tries on a dress two times too small for her with disappointment written all over her face.

"No babe, you look great"... says the boyfriend as he bites his tongue.

Comforting, yes. Honest? Far from it. Because it would be "rude" to say, "Yes babe, it does make you look fat because you ARE overweight. You need to start eating better and working out so you can lose some body fat before you try and wear something that size. Perhaps you should go up a couple of sizes so that the dress looks more flattering to your current figure."

It's safe to assume a response as such would result in a slap to the face, but I feel it's also safe to assume 99.9% of women would expect to be comforted. Now, I'm not trying to start a huge debate about beauty. I realize the true beauty of a person comes from within, so lets not go down that slippery slope. What I'm asking is, when was the last time you were truly honest with someone? Better yet, when was the last time you went an entire day speaking your mind and telling the truth... have you EVER?

Now sit back, reminisce about your previous day's experiences and tally up the amount of "white lies" and approval seeking responses you gave. Baaaaaaaaah... you are officially a sheep. Most of us would be shocked if not disgusted with just how much time we spend not telling the truth, holding back our true feelings and wearing a constant mask wherever we go. Please that person, don't piss off that person. I don't think you'll be getting an invite to attend Fight Club anytime soon, my friend.

I read an article in Esquire a few years back about a movement called "Radical Honesty" (which you can read here: http://www.esquire.com/features/honesty0707) and it completely changed the way I looked at life. It made me lose friends, lose jobs, lose girlfriends and feel AWESOME. I finally became aware that you can't really think outside of the box in any given situation until you're willing to say fuck it to society's unwritten rules.

Although I'm sure many people consider such blatant honesty rude, can't one argue that it's more rude to hold one's self back,,, to not live with one's heart on their sleeve? No, your boss may not like you telling them they don't know their ass from a hole in the ground and it may just get you fired. But if you feel that way so strongly about them, hasn't that anger been building awhile? If you've been biting your tongue for so long, can you really say that you've been happy?

I challenge any of you who decided to read this to give honesty a shot. Dare to be uncomfortable, to be exposed. Perhaps start by reducing your lies instead of becoming Honest Abe out of the blue... you may be surprised just how much lying you've been doing.