Sodium Pentathol

I listen to Eminem. I don't really like a lot of his music, but I love his lyrics. His commentary on society is wonderful. One of my favorite songs by Eminem is "The Real Slim Shadey", and there's a section of the song that goes like this:

"I'm like a head trip to listen to, cause I'm only givin you
things you joke about with your friends inside your living room
The only difference is I got the balls to say it
in front of y'all and I don't gotta be false or sugarcoated at all
I just get on the mic and spit it
and whether you like to admit it I just shit it
better than ninety percent of you rappers out can
Then you wonder how can kids eat up these albums like Valiums"


It's so fantastic, and for the most part it's true, particularly that last line.

You see, I believe people appreciate honesty. The world is filled with people who will lie to you for all kinds of reasons, some people want to win your affection, others your trust and some people just don't want to get into trouble. But for the most part, people have an agenda and in pursuit of their goal they are prepared to lie.

But people don't want to be lied to, even when they have something they want to hear. And that's often fairly difficult to get around, because it's easier to tell someone what they want to hear than it is to go on an often uncomfortable emotional journey.

Now, I hope that those of you who know me would say that I'm an honest person. It's something I value highly, and I strive to be honest in all situations irrespective of how difficult it may be.

Granted, just saying things isn't always the wisest decision, but I suppose that's where integrity and trust come in. Trusting yourself to know when to say things, and how to say things is fairly important. But I suppose that trust needs to come from the person holding the information as well as the person receiving the information.

At the same time, not being arrogant or crushing with honesty is equally important, and this is something that I struggle with. I tend to be very firm and often extremely harsh when being honest. By doing that you can end up doing more harm than good, and that's not what I want.

Sometimes I wish I could emit a sodium pentathol aura. Truth serum, just so people would have to be honest all the time, but I guess that would make things too easy...