Today was Black Friday. It’s amazing to think that I live in a place where it is socially acceptable to brawl with other women in stores for plastic toys (“…80% off! This is the best day of my life!!”). I went out for a brief period, but after being elbowed by a vicious homemaker and rolled over with a baby stroller in Williams Sonoma, I decided it was time to go home. I was lounging in the living room, basking in the feeling of complete mindlessness the TV often brings, when I found “What Women Want” playing. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, it’s movie about a guy who wishes he knew what women wanted (hence the creative title) and through some freak accident involving a hairdryer falling into his bathtub, he obtains the power to read women’s minds. He then finds out a lot of women think he’s an asshole… yada yada yada and eventually ends up getting together with a beautiful woman. Overall it was a pretty lame movie, but it did make me think about something (Gasp! She thinks!).

If I were to be given a choice between truth and a lie, my immediate thought would be to choose the truth. The truth is right, and everyone wants verification. But if everyone told the truth, I don't think people would be any happier. Some people may argue that it is basic human nature to tell the truth, I believe that. But I also believe that humans have a more overwhelming desire to like and to be liked which keeps us from telling the truth to others. Sometimes we keep the truth from our parents to make us seem to be better children, sometimes to our friends to avoid conflicts. Sometimes we lie to ourselves to glorify or debase other people. If we were raised in a world were everyone was honest, things would be different, but in our society everyone is so sensitive. Even when I am telling the 'truth' I feel as though it is a mollified version that smoothes over the nastier aspects. I'm not expecting anyone to be enlightened, or to be compelled to live a life of honesty, because I would be thoroughly depressed if everyone told me what they really think. If the world was full of truth, then it would be openly exposed how nasty we really are.