Truth be told...

I hate lying. I actually have a personal grudge against it. I hate it so much that I do my utmost to avoid it and even those "little white lies." I've noticed those types are the most lethal and can cause more damage than good, so I avoid them by either not saying anything, or telling the truth.

It's not necessarily that I'm trying to take the moral high ground and say that lying is bad, blah, blah, blah, but rather that it simply causes an avoidable amount of inconvenience in our lives, so I figure, why bother doing it? I mean, the truth ALWAYS finds a way of getting out (sorry for hitting you with a cliche there, but it's true!) The other thing about lies is that they walk around in packs, waiting to attack. It's impossible to tell one lie without telling a whole bunch of them just to maintain that first one. They're harder to maintain than they're worth. For example, let's handle the dreaded question that men face:

Sally: "Does this outfit make me look fat?"

John: Uhh...
*No, your fat makes you look fat*
No honey...

Later that evening... (At a get-together between "friends"):

Sally's friend Janice, who has a tendency to express her opinions when they aren't asked
for: "Wow, that outfit is a bit tight isn't it?"

Sally (who wants to prove Janice wrong): *humph* Well it's lucky I have a good figure, haha, right JOHN?

An unsuspecting John: Uhh.. *Starts sweating* Uhh... *Contemplates running...* Uhh...

Ah ha! Now, does John tell more lies to cover up the one he said before, or does he tell the truth?

*Rewind*

OK, what John failed to notice earlier was that he could have very tactfully rephrased his answer to Sally's question of "does this make me look fat?" For example, all he needed to say (in an endearing way, because of that whole lovey-dovey pukey stuff) was: "you know what honey, I reaaaally like that pink one you have hanging in the wardrobe- It brings out your *insert her most prided feature.*"

Anyway, enough of the relationship advice, my point remains: The truth can be avoided, and in a sense told using tact if you think it will hurt someone's feelings (You'll notice politicians do this quite well, so start taking notes from their speeches ;-) ) Otherwise, apart from that little scenario, when the truth is spoken, you'll find that people appreciate it more that being lied to. Isn't it better to have a reputation for speaking the truth than for telling lies; or when a lie gets out of control, a reputation for being a hypocrite?

"No legacy is so rich as honesty."
- William Shakespeare, "All's Well that Ends Well", Act 3 scene 5

"If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything."
- Mark Twain

There's just one little problem I find with telling the truth: I've often expected the same in return. So, I just remind myself, as my mum always says "don't expect anything from anyone." If I choose to be honest, then it's my choice, and I shouldn't expect the same from anyone else. Ain't that the truth!