On the other hand…
When Honesty Honestly Doesn’t Pay
What if a small lie…
Could help the truth slide by
help someone who’s gone astray
sometimes it’s just the best way.
What if the small lie…
Would help someone feel better
make the world a nicer place
save another person’s face.
Honesty is the key
it’s plain to see
it’s a great policy;
to some degree.
What if the truth hurts…
Just remember to keep it small
it can get you through another day
when honesty honestly doesn’t pay.
© Rebecca Sanchez 2020
Written with Poets And Storytellers United for an open prompt (originally Poets United.)
Even if you’ve been married and divorced oodles of times and have felt like trashing the marriage license, don’t do it unless you’ve had a legal name change or have a saved copy of all your marriage licenses. Otherwise they won’t let you board a plane even to another place in the USA now. I’ll add more in my next post so I can quote from the Ohio BMV regulations and I’ll try and see if it just pertains to my state or them all, and what the requirements–state or federal–for voting is. At first blush women are facing harsher restrictions than men re flying. All I had was a wedding notice in the paper, an outdated visa, a photo id from a former government job, A local library photo ID, many newspaper column gravatars from 11th grade through the UF, plus a photo ID on the back of my book plus two copies of my birth certificate. I hope to add more the next post or two. Readers are invited to share information in their comments.
This relates to a dream, a self reflection, memories, connections of past events, wondering, and a resolution to reflect at the end of each day on any lies I’ve told that day, the motivation for them, how many were due to not wanting to hurt the others’ feelings, alternative things I could have said that were truthful, etc. Perhaps reading Difficult Conversations, a library book I recently checked out, recent readings on consciousness and the booklet I’m writing for my children and grandchildren called “Stepping Stones to Inside,” two longstanding grudges against likeable people who insulted me in the past, wondering how I limit my relations with others (and always have) by an unwillingness to hurt others. No need to review the encyclopedic past, but I am excited about the decision to reflect on my truthtelling at the end of each day, and to see what alternatives I might have utilized, because I am thirsty for honesty and aware of how I may keep myself from the warming experience of a truthful relationship. Right now I feel hungry for the truth from a benign person. Truth from someone whose intention is to hurt me would not be welcome. It’s an experiment in living that I’m seeking. And yes, this is motivated by a dream I had and which my unconscious let me remember. All this may be a little too honest for the reader, so I will resume tomorrow night on my DIARY page.
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