Truth hurts

I remembered watching Tom Cruise interrogating Jack Nicholson in the movie "A few good men". And the words which Jack screamed through the skull and etch into my mind.


- You don't have to answer that.
- You want answers?


Tom as Lt. Daniel Kaffee : "I want the truth!"

Jack as Col. Nathan R. Jessep: "You can't handle the truth!"

Seriously in life...do we always want the truth?

I've recently come across this fact that those who asked the most questions are lied/deceived the most. Be it little white lies like your wife or girlfriend asking "Do I look fat?" That's an instant knee-jerking reaction by most men to say what you need to say in order to survive the next day and avoid a confrontation. Men are non-confrontational creatures, and unless you partner is a bulimic or anorexic, you have to lie even though she is probably half your weight or not tipping the 50kg mark.

So do we really want to hear the truth? Do we want to hear the fact that our government is probably running a ponzi scheme with our CPF monies? Or we have somehow finished spending our reserves on foreign soil?

Many of us choose to be ignorant, because indeed ignorance is bliss. What you don't know will not hurt you.

"Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up, at least a little bit" - Edward R. Murrow


But the truth hurts. So we should all lie. But Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that 'truth is our element', and indeed we all need the element of truth to stay sane. But then again why do we need to lie? We need to lie because because we fear. We fear from being reprimanded, fear of repercussions, fear of being hurt or hurting someone. And sometimes the fear comes from love. And how can something as wonderful as love create fear? The fear of losing the one you love, creates fear.


So you decide, if you can grapple with fear and know when to dispense with the truth and when with the lies, in order to love - love completely.
Sometimes life dealt us cards which despite having a good hand, have to hurt with lies in order to win.