If you were 120 lbs and someone called you fat would you take offense? What if you were 300 lbs? It's meaner when you call a fat person fat than when they're not right? When that person isn't fat, it must be a joke. Saying the wrong truths can get someone into a lot of trouble but saying the right lies can get you right back out of that trouble. Which brings us to today's quote.
“The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made.” -Groucho Marx
Today people always ask for an honest opinion. They want to know the truth about their Broadway performance, their cooking, their artwork, their writing, everything. There's nothing wrong with that, a little honest criticism never hurt anyone, but a lot of honest criticism has. If you go on and on about one little flaw in a person you deserve to get popped in the mouth, if you say that one thing nicely and only once, you're a caring and honest guy.
But what if someone has a lot of flaws? What if someone has too many flaws to count and doesn't even realize he has them? What do you say then? Do you just let it go and hope he learns? Or do you start your list and tell them all to that person one by one? If you did that other person would be pissed right? That's because what you are doing is the true essence of evil.
True evil branches from true honesty. Everybody has their flaws and their quarks. We know that. What most of us don't know is that we all have at least one incredible insecurity. Something that, if mentioned, has the potential to drive us into either a blind rage or a blind depression. Few people realize what their greatest insecurity is, and it takes real balls to admit what it is. It's a bad idea to say it, even around trusted friends. Especially, around trusted friends.
There's nothing worse than being betrayed by a best friend and having your greatest insecurity used against you. If someone you've trusted for years decides out of nowhere to turn on you and use everything in his power to make you look like a fool and a coward, there's no recovering from that. You either begin seeking revenge or go into a permanent depression that can never be lifted.
People are just that easy to mess with and that easy to mess up. It hasn't always been this way though. Imagine the same situation if the word “sorry” actually meant something. Today that doesn't cut it, that word has to follow some great moving speech, the kind of speech most people could never come up with. Coming ups with a good speech really isn't that hard.
Say, for example, you've been best friends with Mark for seven to either years, he's confided everything to you, including his one and only insecurity, his hair, he doesn't like his hair. Let's say it's too curly. One day he comes to you looking troubled and tells you his girlfriend dumped him. And out of nowhere you decide to say, “She probably doesn't want to be around a curly headed freak all the time,” you then walk away and go home. Later he might call you back and ask what's wrong and you proceed to talk about how you're tired of all his drama, tired of listening to his whiny, insignificant drama and hang up on him. If your friend continues to try he may walk up to you the next day and ask what's going on, you then say, “Nothing, my life is perfect, my parents are great, my friends are awesome, I have everything I need, I just don't want your mop of a head for a friend anymore.” You then walk away yet again.
At this point your friend is probably in shock and he's probably pretty mad too. Later, say your with your new friends and as he walks by you all laugh at him saying things about how he's stupid, worthless, dumb and last but not least his hair looks retarded. Then later that same day you decide to go that one extra step and beat him up with your new friends then take whatever he has on him including his wallet.
A true evil no? To have the lack of heart to be able to go so far in a random betrayal. There is nothing more disappointing or more frustrating than someone you trust and love just standing up and saying, “I'm out of this relationship and I'm going to make your life a living hell.” Completely out of nowhere, for no reason at all.
