"Mom used to say that politeness is deception in pretty packaging."When I first read that I thought it was the weirdest thing I've ever read. Politeness was (is) something I want to stand by. It's classy, to be polite. Right? Right. I want to be a classy lady.
But I've also heard that old saying "The truth will set you free" and whatnot. I want to be free. Maybe it's me being one of those stupid teenagers but freedom is something that just gets to me. It's so appealing, and not just to me, to a lot of people, I mean that's what America is all about, right? Freedom! Yeah..
But society relies on kindness. People expect, or at least hope, that others will be kind to them. And the truth is not always kind. Society wants people to be polite, like children are raised to say please and thank you, even though they may not always stick with it. Politeness relies on saying "nice to meet you" even when it may not be that pleasant to meet someone. Politeness relies on apologies when you've done something wrong, even if you aren't truly sorry. Society relies on politeness and politeness often relies on those little white lies.
I don't want to be told those little white lies anymore. I want to be set free, I want to know the truth. I want to know when my writing sucks, when I have something in my teeth, when my fly is unzipped, when someone isn't sorry. All of those impolite things that you can't say, just tell me because maybe I can fix it, and if not I can deal with it. But one thing is absolutely for sure: I cannot fix anything, if I don't know that it's a problem.
The truth will set me free, and on the other side of freedom lies possibilities. I think that those possibilities are going to feel a lot better later than any white lie will in the moment.
So what will you choose? Politeness or Truth? I'm eager to know.
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