Medication Errors Is Honesty Always

Medication Errors

Is honesty always the best policy? Why or why not?

When asked if honesty is the best policy, two immediate, yet somewhat contradictory thoughts enter my brain. The first is of course, honesty is good because it is one of the cardinal virtues. No one wants to be regarded as a dishonest person, as a liar who cannot be trusted. But why is this so? The second thought, upon probing my instinctive reaction, is that life would be difficult without telling some small, polite social lies. After all, imagine receiving a gift that you hate, and having to tell your stepmother or in-laws that it's really not your size/taste/color and they really shouldn't have bothered.

But then again, I realize in such difficult situations I seldom tell an outright lie. I might smile and say: "that's a very bright yellow shirt," and imply that I appreciate the thought behind the gift by my body language, even if I have not exclaimed "I love it! it's exactly what I always wanted." After all, when I do receive something meaningful from a loved one, I want my reply to seem genuine, and not mistrusted or diluted by my false replies in the past.

This is why if at all possible I try never to make a false statement. After all, there is a very good chance that you might meet the giver on the 'Returns' aisle in the mall the day after Christmas, the gift you swore you loved tucked beneath your arm! or, on a more serious note, if you don't tell your best friend what you really think about her boyfriend, she's likely to be angry with you, after she leaves him: "why didn't you tell me what you thought when I was with him? How could you let me be so blind?"

On honest disagreements about political or personal matters, it is best to be candid. Psychologically, I feel like a callous is forming upon my soul when I keep my thoughts to myself, and lie with smiles and false words about an issue of great importance. The anger that eventually and inevitably spills out is far more hurtful than any truth I could have told before, and the damage I have done to my self-esteem is too great. My opinions, right or wrong, are part of who I am.

Honesty does not mean tactlessness. In fact, one of the important lessons about learning to be honest is to know that honesty does not mean being too brutal, or sarcastic, or cruel, which is just the same thing as lying. Cruelty is a lie because it is a one-sided tale. Nothing is all bad or all good. Honesty is a balanced and upfront perspective of the truth, even if it is only your subjective, perceived truth. Everyone's truth, after all, will be influenced by their personal biases and perspectives on life. But that does not excuse telling falsehoods about that perspective.