shifted

To whomsoever it may concern, I have shifted this blog to upontherocks.tumblr.com..

Thank you..

Honesty

hatred, greed, envy, selfishness, shamelessness, snobbishness, carelessness, laziness, horny-ness, punctuality, sincerity, loyalty, caring-ness, selflessness, generosity, merriment, love..


There is something that gets tagged to every one of the above words, lets not call them words, lets call them states of mind. That one thing is honesty, or the lack of it. Honesty towards people you care about, honesty towards the people you don't care about, honesty towards people you don't know, most importantly, honesty towards yourself.


The pace at which our lives move today, the rate at which lives are made or destroyed, the pace with which people are born, or die. Each and every one of us lives our lives at a certain pace, most of the time this pace is not set by us. It is set by a deadline at work, by our wives/husbands that expect you to be home by so-and-so time, by our children who have to get to school, etc etc. The point of discussing this is how it effects our state of mind. We don't have enough time to stop, think about it, and decide whether or not we want to do what we are doing, whether or not it is the right thing to do, and whether or not we will regret this decision at some point in the future. We've become zombies, infected not by some deadly virus, but a lifestyle so demanding that makes us victims of our own decisions.


Now, where does honesty fit into all this?


Honesty is a quality which finds itself dwindling in the face of the pace at which we run through life. Its been replaced by what we call 'white lies', half truths, and just plain lies with the intention of avoiding or delaying conflict, in getting what we want out of a situation. Today, quite frankly, we don't have the time to face the truth, time to share it, or even care that we don't care anymore. The honest truth, over a period of time has become a matter of convenience.


I believe very strongly in living without conflict, the time and effort invested being a pointless waste. This doesn't mean I advocate the goings on, of what I've written so far. I believe in something quite the opposite. I believe in honesty. I believe it is one lie, to get somewhere that brings up the conflicts for which we end up lying over and over. In our daily lives we go through this kind of thing, thinking and hoping its the first and last time we'd have to lie and then we're through. Each lie is viewed at as a singular event, of which we fail to grasp the history and fail even to see the consequences. Every issue deflected is another issue with a probability of catching up with you and biting you in the ass.


This also brings up an issue which is very close to my heart. The issue of trust. I love to trust people. I know it is not possible for each of us to trust any one person completely. It is only possible for us to trust each person, if at all we do, in only certain matters. For e.x, you can trust one friend with keeping your secrets, one with money, one with getting there in time, one with getting you out of trouble, etc. But, with the time we live in, this becomes very difficult. Life is not really worth living if you don't have someone you can trust by your side with important stuff. Trust is not automatic. It can neither be given, nor taken, commanded or demanded. It is earned. Simple as that. It takes time to earn people's trust and just an instance of bad judgement to lose it. Instead of giving someone the benefit of the doubt if he does tell the truth, we chastise him for what he's done, avoiding which gives birth to the first lie. That is all it takes. It is but inevitable that you lose one more of your trusted circle of people (for lack of a better word).


It is a personal choice, but not entirely a conscious decision, not every time. 


These are a few quotes related to the subject that I wanted to share. Very insightful. 

"What people believe prevails over the truth" .SOPHOCLES, The Sons of Aleus

"Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favor." ROBERT FROST, The Black Cottage

"To hell with the truth! As the history of the world proves, the truth has no bearing on anything. It's irrelevant and immaterial, as the lawyers say. The lie of a pipe dream is what gives life to the whole misbegotten mad lot of us, drunk or sober." EUGENE O'NEILL, The Iceman Cometh

P.S: There is a lot more I have to say on the subject. On the subject of how it is not always a conscious decision to lie. For now, this entry has already run itself quite long. I'd appreciate your inputs.

Until next time, Ciao.