The Ugly Truth…

I want the truth!!! Screams Tom Cruise, in his made for film military uniform…

The Truth?! You can’t Handle the Truth!!! raged Jack Nicolson and the rest was movie and pop culture history.

This line speaks to me now more than ever before, people can’t handle the truth, well let me rephrase; They can when it’s a pleasant truth but never when it’s the ‘bad or unpleasant’ truth. Most people prefer to ignore that truth and pretend it doesn’t exist or that the other person was totally wrong and just doesn’t get it. Well. Maybe, but does that make it any less untrue??? Our reality is totally based on our perceptions of the world around us, we build our world according to what we see as the truth about life and the universe. So one could argue that when we tell someone the truth, we are either agreeing with another's world views or challenging their beliefs… If someone says to you,

Hey, you’re looking hot tonight!

Generally you’d be thrilled and give yourself an additional 20 points in the self-esteem department. However, when our best friend tells us,

Hunny, that shirt is a little too tight…

We fly off the deep end, and get upset because let’s face it we’re hot! Then we go around being all grumpy and bitchy because that friend wasn’t being a friend at all just a hateful, spiteful, asshole!!!

I’ve fallen prey to this little truth, and I reacted exactly that way, not my most shiny moment I assure you. I will be the first to admit that sometimes I don’t want to hear the truth either, it’s such a tricky thing. However, that was before, I’ve learned from those mistakes and now I thrive on the truth… I’d rather hear something I don’t want to hear and try and learn from it, fix it, or whatever the situation calls for than to know nothing at all and live my life in ignorance of my own self-worth.

Lately I’m running into people all over the place that treat the truth like it’s going to give them HIV or something. Further more I’m not talking about my student’s for once… I’m talking about adults! A few of them teachers even! People that sit there and preach their morals and ethics to students in class all day and yet when they are presented with honesty or the opportunity to just be honest, they choose avoidance and lies.

I don’t know where they think this will get them in the long run but frankly it’s just stupidity! When someone is telling you the truth, generally it’s because they give a shit about you, and instead of taking what they have to say and doing something with it, they choose to avoid it and make them out to be a total jerk!!! Any kind of relationship is not a real relationship unless their is honesty there and if you can’t be honest with someone for one reason or another, then they aren’t someone you need in your life… and in all honesty cutting the ties with these kind of people is sooooo much easier than you could possibly imagine.