Truth

Is it better to tell the truth and be hated or lie and be liked?

I asked this question a few weeks ago to my fellow classmates. The vast majority quickly decided it was better to lie and be liked. C1 and Myself chose the other option. Should I be worried at the number of people who would, it seems, chose dishonesty in order to feed their vanity?

I can understand why people want to be liked. I like to be liked, in fact I'm sure we all do. Because, although I don't really believe in definitions, I believe it to be an universal truth. That all our insecurities stem from what other people think about us. And no matter how secure we are within ourselves, we all want to be seen in the best light and admired for what we do.

If we rigidly stick to the truth, on the other hand, there is fear that people might never forgive us, that we might lose a friend of five or that people may become vary when speaking with us. Being blunt, it is my view, is a gift of the highest order. To tell it how is it is such an admirable quality because with this comes a certain confidence. Of course, nobody truly know what constitutes right and wrong or what indeed is normal. So we can base this entirely on our opinion.

Consequently, if all in life is relative (because nobody in this world is free from bias), it strikes me that people may disagree with your opinion, or perhaps even be hurt by it, but ultimately, it's your opinion and nothing more.

And also, if people are happy only when they hear good things about themselves, what does this say about them? If nobody tells us what is wrong, how are we to ever improve?