The Truth Saves

IS IT BETTER TO KNOW THE TRUTH, EVEN IF IT HURTS?

Yes, after some of my past experiences, I think the truth is what really matters. Truth saves. There are situations where you think lying is the best option to protect yourself, the person or your mutual interests, but lies always comes back to bite you in the ass. I'm sure most of us have heard a saying that goes like this, “A lie births more lies.” You find yourself having to lie to cover up another lie that's covering up another lie. And finally, when the truth comes to light, it breaks and hurts and shatters the person whom the lie has been told to. Sometimes, it also breaks the person telling the lie. Lying just places a burden of guilt on your soul, even when you don't know it. But you find out that when you eventually tell the truth, you feel lighter and freer.

I understand that there are situations that forces or pushes us to lie to protect the ones we love from the truth, or because we don't want to hurt them but when I think about it now, I think there are better ways to soften or frame the truth or avoid telling the truth or lie in that moment. There's a thin line between black and white and it's gray. Sometimes, we have to toe that line. For example, we can say, “I can't tell you the truth right now. I don’t want to have to lie to you. It's not my place to say this. The truth will just hurt you”. This way, you are preparing the person's mind for the truth or making them aware that the truth might hurt. If the person then insists to hear it, you can tell them.

The truth might be painful in that moment but it's better out now, than finding out later in the future. Most times, when the person finds the truth from another source, it might shatter the person even more than hearing it from you.

On Twitter, a user posted his story about how he found out that his dad was not his biological father after nineteen good years. Unfortunately, his mother was dead before he found out this shocking truth. The news devastated him and his father and wrecked their relationship because they had always thought they were son and father. The saddest truth was that he would never get to know his biological father because his mother was dead. Maybe, his mother was trying to protect him from the truth, shelter him in the world he had always known. Or maybe she just hid the truth for her own personal selfish reasons. But that's the thing about lies. It always gets uncovered in the harshest of ways.

So, after coming to this realization, I have decided that if I ever find myself in a situation where I have to lie or say the truth, I will pick telling the truth or at least cushioning the impact by choosing the right words to say and the right time to say it. If the truth is one that might cause tension or break my friendship or relationship with that person, I will try to fix it and apologize. And if it's something that can't be fixed, I will just mentally prepare myself to lose them and move on. It will be hard but it is what it is.

Thanks for reading.

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I'm inviting @omobolanle to participate in this week's prompt.