Painfully Honest

Why does honest have to be painful? The other day I read a blog post about someone feeling they needed to say something "in love" to a friend of theirs who was over-weight. They were shocked and outraged that the friend got angry at them. They considered themselves righteous for being brave enough to step up on the issue. I'm not so sure I agree with that one. Frankly that part of this discussion is a bit of a quagmire so I am going to avoid it at all costs.

The question in my mind though, is why, if the truth will set you free, is the truth so painful? Hang on, I know that is actually a stupid question, but let me explain.

On my GRE one of the things I had to do was write an essay on my opinion of the idea that all political leaders had to lie in order to be effective. I wanted to say that wasn't true. By the end of the paper I still thought it didn't need to be true, but that in today's world it had become true. Why does the truth have to be painful?

Then there is this other issue of why does the fact that I disagree with someone have to mean that I am not seeing the truth? My Dad and I had a conversation on Friday (yes, the wonderful Dad I usually write so glowingly about, none of that has changed, this was just a conversation.) He thinks I am not dealing with something correctly, that I can't see the truth. Personally I just think he doesn't understand what I am expressing as everything he said makes sense to me, but is not exactly the issue... So who is not "seeing the truth" here? And why does that truth have to be painful.

No, I'm not telling you what the argument was about because it wasn't an argument and there is a good chance I am PMSing which nullifies everything said anyway...

Mom gets here Monday. We leave for Nashville and the NCTE conference Thursday. Pray for me and pray that my mother lives... Talk about Painful! (Yes, posting will continue to be erratic for a while...)