Truth and Consequence
When we were children, we were taught to always tell the truth... and we did! In fact, we held nothing back. It was good to tell the neighbor, Mrs. Hassleman, that we could see her underwear right through her dress. After all, it was the truth and maybe she didn't know. We thought we were doing her a favor and that she would appreciate it, but instead she became very upset.
We quickly learned that even though our parents said the truth is a good thing, it didn't always produce positive results. The only problem with that was we never knew when the truth was a good thing or a bad thing. So we learned to hide the truth. We masked it with lies or simply kept it to ourselves.
We hoped that with age and experience we would learn how to be truthful without hurting someone's feelings. Unfortunately, just when we think we have a handle on this truth thing our best friend or girlfriend shows up in a new dress she bought and wants to know what we think. The thing looks hideous on her, but she seems so proud of it. Great! So now what do we do? Do we tell the truth and hurt our friend's feelings, or do we lie in order to spare them?
Then we have children of our own and we find ourselves telling them, "you should always tell the truth no matter what," but it isn't until after they tell a stranger in the grocery store that his teeth aren't in straight that we realize what we've done. Like us, they are doomed to learn the hard lessons of truth and consequence.
The simple fact is that truth is a very powerful tool, and like any tool it should be respected. If you use an electric saw without first learning how to operate it properly, you're liable to cut your fingers off. Although the truth may not result in losing your fingers, it can certainly hurt you or someone you care about. Truth can literally change the course of someone's life.
Imagine for a moment that you've just learned a terrible secret. Your best friend's boyfriend is considering splitting up with her. You want to tell her, but you don't know if you should. Let's pretend that you decide to tell her because she deserves to know the truth. She cries for a bit, and then decides that she is going to split up with him first. Things hadn't been going well anyway, and she knew it was inevitable.
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