Tell the truth, even if it hurts

I must admit that trying to fall asleep last night was quite pleasing, mainly because yesterday I heard everything I wanted to hear, most of which happened to be lies. We’d rather be misinformed and happy than informed and sad. It seems as if lies are therapeutic and comforting.Our society is fueled by emotion. We all know, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” People want happiness at all costs. We lie to one another all the time just to keep each other happy. Society doesn’t like to hear the truth, so it won’t listen to it and it surely won’t tell it.Everyone knew that Iraq didn’t have weapons of mass destruction, but the public allowed the Bush administration to feed it lies. I guess that lie relaxed some people and eased their guilt for falsely accusing and trespassing in Iraq. Beginning from early childhood we are deceived. We are tricked into becoming accustomed to accepting lies. Santa Clause, The Easter Bunny and The Tooth Fairy are all false. But since they all brought us happiness as children we went ahead and accepted these lies. You might not like what I’m saying and that’s fine. The truth hurts, which is why you never hear it. The financial aid office lies to the student body year in and year out. “Everything will be running smoothly this semester; we have worked out all the kinks.” They tell us that to keep us happy. FAMU financial aid is full of it, has been and will be until further notice. It’s 2006 people, as Flavor Flav would say, “you know what time it is.” Quit lying!Why do people insist on asking to borrow money? They don’t intend to reimburse the person they borrowed from, so why say “borrow”? If your name isn’t Mr. Feel-Good don’t go out of your way by telling a falsehood to try and make someone feel good. People have feelings to spare, hurt them, I know I don’t mind if I’m being told the truth. Let another woman who I haven’t seen in awhile tell me, “I have been trying to call you,” I’ll go against everything I believe in and jab her like my last name is Ali. Don’t ask for someone’s opinion about something and get mad at the answer. People need to be real. Overweight people are overweight, not big-boned, and short people are not vertically challenged. They are short. Everyone isn’t going to be happy all the time. If telling someone the truth about something hurts his or her feelings, then so be it. There is no joy without pain. How stupid can we be? We’re happy to be in the dark. That’s backwards and sad, but it’s true. A lot of people reading this know deep down that I’m speaking the truth but will neglect it and continue to willingly accept lies. But I suppose as long as people are happy at the end of the day, then that is what really matters.

Siraaj Sabree is newspaper journalism student from Miami. He can be reached at bree_305@yahoo.com