Value the truth.

Do you think you lie 200+ times a day? Do you lie to people you just met? Watch This video, the whole thing please, and think about it before you read on:

http://www.ted.com/talks/pamela_meyer_how_to_spot_a_liar.html


If you are like me, when you watched this video you got defensive. You looked into your own life and started counting out your own lies. The number is irrelevant, if you haven't yet, allow me to beg to most important question; How valuable is the truth?

Seriously, how valuable is it? At this point in our technologically advance world, covered in photos, blogs, and drama, where is the truth? I looked into my own life, and trust me I am no saint. However, I actually do consciously try not to lie. I would rather tell the truth to someone than lie to their face. I learned this within the last few years of my life while dealing with my parents. I love them, and I love to see them happy. I consider them two of the very few best friends I have. When ever I lied to them, first of all it never worked, but I would also feel a feeling of defeat and inner turmoil. I hated it, I hate the feeling of a successful lie. Especially one that hurts somebody. Again, I still have my demons, but I would rather tell you I don't like the way you treat me, than go along with you being an asshole.

I feel like as a society today though, or at least as an American society, we have drifted away from the most important part of a deal, the loyalty and trust. The truth is valuable thing. How many times have you asked your buddy before you went out how you looked? How many times have you asked how the food you cooked was after you prepared a meal for somebody? When was the last time you asked someone if you looked fat? I personally have a lot of self doubt, and ask a lot of people these questions. Why do I do this? Because the truth feels good; When somebody tells me I look good or that they enjoyed my company, it is a beautiful thing. I would rather they just tell me without me asking, but hey, we're only human right?

Time to look at the bigger picture, what can a lie do to hurt somebody? As I mentioned before, I am a strong believer in loyalty, and especially, brotherhood. So much a believer in "Brotherhood", that I got it tattooed on my left arm. I can name a few people I would go to war with, that I would fight for with every last breathe in my body. In fact, one of those people is in the army, (Love you man. If you're reading this, can't wait until you get home!). I digress, but the point is that these people know that. I would never lie to someone on this level and tell them I had their back when I actually didn't. I don't want to end up in a situation where I am torn between two parties. I have before and it is certainly difficult to maneuver around and still maintain a relationship with both. In reality, I lost both sides as friends and ended up alone. No pity party please, this is life, and we have all probably hit this snag once or twice.

My greatest friends are the ones who tell me I look stupid, or I am being a dick. I don't want a lie from you, I want the truth. When you do that for me, or anybody, you can rest your head on the fact that this person will be there to tell you whats up and whats wrong. No matter what subject. I think we should all take a step back and look at ourselves in the mirror. What are we hiding, and why are we lying? Value the truth, value friendship, and value what you believe in. If you have no problem debating for what you believe in, why try to hide behind a shade. Express it and tell the truth, if people can't take it, they should express their beliefs. This is called an argument, normal people have these kinds of disagreements. When the fight is over, and all is agreed upon or not, you can hug it out and rest knowing that that person is going to tell you whats up, and just might have your back when you need it most.

I am not trying to instill fear, or make you an expert lie spotter. I am just trying to spark thought. Who have you lied to recently? And what do you think the repercussions of this lie have been, if any? Then try to think in terms of, "Would I like to be lied to?" Most likely your answer is no.

Trust me, value the truth. I wouldn't lie to you.

The Mysterious Future

Today in one of my lectures, one of my professors, Paul Carson, asked us a very intriguing question. He asked us to draw a timeline starting at zero. He asked us to put 0, 1000, 2000, and 2011. on the timeline.

Once this was completed, he asked us, "If you were to draw yourself as a stick figure, which way would you be facing?"

As simple as this question is, take a step back and think about it for a minute. Most of you probably said that you would make yourself facing forward, or generally, to the right. However, our professor pointed out to use that the Greeks would make themselves facing backwards, because their philosophy was that they backed into the future. The Greeks said you could not see the future, therefor you should not be able to walk straight into it. As modern humans however, we see it as we are moving forward, and progressing into the future. It is not a very controversial topic, it is more food for thought.



Think about it.