Honesty

Hello, God--

First of all, good morning--and thank you for another day in my life, and for all the things and people in that life.  I really do appreciate them all.

I do have a question for you, though.  It seems that as I look around me, I don't see a lot of honesty these days.  I don't see all that many people who put an extremely high priority on being honest and keeping their word.  In fact, it seems that more and more we see people in the public eye who are far less than honest, who are more interested in saying what they think people want to hear than they are in saying what is true and accurate.

Just yesterday, a vice-presidential candidate stopped by a soup kitchen and had pictures taken of him there in a shameless attempt at a photo opportunity--the place was closed, no one was eating there, and he hadn't even made sure it was okay with them if he showed up.  He just did, and had people taking pictures of him washing dishes and such.  It was a pre-fabricated lie, yet he felt that it was acceptable that he do this.  And he's one of our leaders!

What's up?

A response:

Honesty always has been a problem with people who want to have what they perceive as power.  Dishonesty is born of fear, and what you're seeing is people who are afraid that the truth isn't good enough, so they have to embellish it or even create their own version of truth.

I would say that someone who is so afraid of what he seems to be that he goes out of his way to create a reality that really isn't him probably would not make a very effective leader, except over those who are just as fearful as he is.  But that's just a thought.  Your societies will elect the leaders that seem to fit at any given time, whether or not they're qualified to lead, whether or not they're effective leaders.

When someone is dishonest, you will find the fear not very deep, up near the surface of who they are.  They're feeling vulnerable, and they're feeling that if they do tell the truth, it will hurt them somehow.  People will judge them as not being good enough, talented enough, not having done enough with their lives.  There are people who are dishonest in malicious ways, and they use that dishonesty to try to hurt others--these are the most fearful people of all, yet their fear is so deep and so comprehensive that it has overwhelmed all their other senses and thoughts.

Dishonesty is nothing new.  With today's media, though, you tend to see it more.  And while one would think that the new media focus would make people more afraid to be dishonest because they can get caught so much easier, the truth is that if their fear is strong enough, they will lie with the thought that it's easier to apologize for a lie than it is to admit that they're not good enough.  And that's a lie that they're telling themselves, that they're not good enough.  Because you all are.  All the time.