Honesty

I saw this sign the other day while having lunch in Jimmy Johns.  I'm going to set aside the part about honesty being morally right since I just lied to my daughter for weeks about a bunny breaking into our house last Saturday night to leave her clothes, a jumprope and chocolate.  :)

I did, however, think about how efficient honesty really is in my life.  When I am open and honest life feels so much easier.  Some people struggle with my honesty, finding me blunt and aggressive.  I have come to accept that those might be the consequences of me being honest and I'm okay with it.  As they say, "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."  I am fragile at times and can appreciate how it can be difficult to receive honest feedback.  However, I have enough sense of self-worth to know that my entire being and how I exist in this world is not based on what other people think of me.  And the ones that do love me, love me unconditionally, honesty and all.  So I always have support, from myself and from the people who love me.

I'm very curious why honesty is often received as mean, aggressive or inappropriate.  I know that it is also about how you say it and when.  But in general if you are doing it with sincerity and common curiosity, why does it have to be those negative things?

And isn't it just so much more efficient to be honest????  I think life is voluminously more simple and easy when I am honest.

What are your thoughts on honesty???