▶ Your Answer : Although I understand the concept of conventional wisdom saying, 'honesty is the best policy', and I also have been taught that honest words and behaviors are the most ideal moral act, I do not think that honesty is always the best thing to be considered in relationships. Sometimes, telling the truth can hurt others and aggravate the relationship especially in the cases of certain circumstances. One of the most common circumstances that can be inappropriate to maintain a sound relationship is related to the time when you happen to meet acquaintances. Suppose that you encounter one of your neighbors in the street while you are heading for a bank to pay the bills before the bank closed or an office to interview with your prospective employer. Both you and your neighbor will exchange greetings with a smile saying, 'Hi, how are you?' However, unexpectedly if your neighbor who all the time considers the honesty as the best policy is so honest about your greeting words that he or she starts to list his or her back pain and chronic headache, you will most likely be annoyed. At this moment, your neighbor can be most likely said that he/she failed to build a harmonious relationship with you because you will in all likelihood not be pleased to see the neighbor next time especially in the street or try to avoid being encountered with him/her as much as possible. Another situation that telling the truth can hurt others or break the relationship is applied to when parents or teachers deliver their personal judgments. If teachers who are obsessed with the extreme honesty ideal tells their retarded students something like they are terrible or incorrigible about their performances, the teachers will hurt not only their students, but also their potential futures and eventually deteriorate the bonds between one another. All they need is a white encouraging words, instead of making the explicitly honesty judgmental phrases. In the same manner as the teachers, parents also would better not tell the true opinions to their sloppy and clumsy sons or daughters. Otherwise, the parents can make their children worse or even resulting in low self-esteem. To recap briefly, telling the truth can not be always desirable in certain relationships. One should be consider different circumstances wisely and sensibly. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ALL YOUR HELP^^ |