Honesty may not be the best policy?

Honesty is not always the best policy.

Many have often wondered if honesty is dead, ignoring the fact that it is almost impossible to be completely honest in the first place.

Envision being in a world where everyone told the truth. Can you just imagine how serene the world would be if everyone were honest? Can you picture a world unaffected by the occasional “white lie” or exaggeration? Do you visualize people holding hands, embracing the new trend, and delighting in all that is true and honest?

No, I didn’t think so. Many people expect you to be honest with them but only when it’s for their convenience.

Honesty is defined as truthfulness, sincerity, or frankness and freedom from deceit or fraud. 

If this is true, are we not all guilty of deception? Have we not all, at least once, had to make the excruciating decision to lie when we knew it was wrong? Half of you probably have already lied at least once while reading this. 

You feel as though you’re an honest person at all times and have no reason to lie. However, you neglected to think back to the time when your roommate asked you how she looked in that brand new tank top. You knew it didn’t quite fit right, yet you still told her it was cute.

Why has telling the truth become extraneous?

Dishonesty has become a norm in our society. 

This can be seen in more than one instance. Picture this: You go to your friend John’s funeral. Everyone has known John as a no-good criminal and a con artist, yet when the preacher speaks about John, he has nothing but good things to say. He doesn’t mention how John ruined dozens of lives or how he stole money from his own mother. Imagine how horrible the funeral would go if the preacher mentioned how John truly spent his life.

So, how do you stay honest without being hurtful? When someone is brutally honest, he or she often appears as an unapproachable, overbearing person with whom no one wants to communicate. 

Honest people have always existed, yet the problem is that they don’t always tell the truth. Now I know that seems like an oxymoron but it’s the easiest way it can be explained. Dishonesty comes in many forms and people fail to realize that.

According to http://www.geocities.com/changes1611/sins22lies5a.html, lying has been broken down into categories. Such categories include euphemisms, emergency lies, bluffing, perjury, sarcasm, misleading, careful speaking and exaggeration.

Whether you’re playing cards or trying to explain reproduction to a child, honesty is lost along the way.

It all comes down to this: while people try to be honest, honestly, it is difficult to do. If you’re too honest, you’re seen as rude. And if you’re not honest enough you’re seen as a liar.

If you’re trying to become more honest, then kudos to you. Let us hope that your roommate doesn’t want an honest opinion on her next outfit.

Crystal Judkins is a junior magazine production student from Alexandria, Va. She can be reached at famuanopinions@hotmail.com.