***WARNING! This one is Uber-preachy!***
I’ve been saying this little phrase to myself over and over lately. “Honesty is Freedom.” I came up with it myself. No really, I did! In fact I got all excited about coining the phrase, but I’ll be damned if William Graham Sumner didn’t beat me to it in 1899 (also the year that my alma mater was founded).
So I guess I’m 109 years late to the party, but it has become increasingly obvious to me that…(drumroll)… Honesty, is the best policy. Ok that one is for sure not mine, but I (along with W.G. Sumner) am taking it one step further, and proclaiming that Honesty is Freedom!
There have been a few honest conversations among my family, and a couple good honest conversations at work. But what honesty brings more than anything else, is the freedom to not have to watch what you say, or how you act because of some unspoken 800lb Gorilla that is in the room.
George Washington couldn’t tell a lie…could you?
One Comment
I would go one step further and say that it isn’t necessarily “honesty” that is freeing, but the act of being transparent with others. It’s the defenses and walls that we build around ourselves that cause the so called 800lb gorilla.
PS. Kudos to your family for having those tough conversations! Opening yourself up like that is freeing but can also be really F-ing scary.