Great Expectations

Expectations, values, ideals, principles are very big words, words that I learnt very early in life. I was brought up to do the right thing no matter what the consequences are. I was taught to walk on the right path even if it meant walking alone.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying I am a saint. I am not saying that I have never sinned. Its not that I have never tasted the forbidden fruit. But the way, I see things is that you cant claim to be good in a vaccuum. Sometimes, you need to walk on the dark side of life to experience the light of truth.

So after a decade of finding my way through the sahara of life, I have finally come across the oasis I have been searching for so desperately.

I want to do the right thing not because my parents expect that of me, but because I know from a first hand experience that it is the only way you can look at yourself straight in the eye.

It is the only way, you can hold your head high and keep your spine straight when the rest of the world are losing their minds and getting rid of their morals because in this trek of life, that stuff gets heavy.

But with great expectations, comes grave disappointment and that is something that comes with the territory. I am still trying to learn how not to expect the best from people, instead work on my best performance and keep improving that.

The truth about Truth

The truth hurts feelings, breaks relationships, makes enemies out of friends, turns love into hate, makes people unpopular and yet most wise men still say that honesty is the best policy. In my own personal opinion, everytime I have expressed my truth, it hasn't gone down very well. So I am wondering whether is Honesty really the best policy?

I mean do relationships last when partners are completely honest about their feelings for each other, or do they last when the truth is introduced with a few white lies? Is it acceptable to tell your partner how you feel about them or is it better to keep a few things encrypted?

Why is it so hard for people who are the closest to you to tell you what they really think and why is it relatively easier for a stranger to tell you exactly what they think about you and why is it more likely for us to accept the truth from the stranger?

I guess the closer you get to a person the more vulnerable he or she gets to the sharpness of your words. I guess this is also the reason why we appreciate the warmth of the sun from a distance, the closer we get, the more burnt we are..

But all said and done, I feel comfortable in the presence of a person who says the truth and doesnt sugar coat the real bitter stuff. I want to keep it real and the truth helps me be real. The truth is my mirror of who I really am, and even if it doesnt show me things I want to see, I now know who I really am and what I am made up of. I dont think I would like to be with a person who constantly puts me on a pedestal and tells me that I am the best. I feel that I am trapped in an island of luxury cut off from the real world. I believe in constant evolution, change is my constant. The truth that sometimes I am not good enough, fuels that change. Improving on my best performance. I rather play hardball with myself at home than get ripped off by ugly critisism by strangers. How many of us have watched the selection round of American Idol and were in shock to hear horrible, off-tune, cacophonous voices trying to be a music idol? I mean did these people have friends who could tell them the real honest truth before they made a big fool of themselves on national and international TV.

The truth is that the truth is out there and the truth cannot be hidden for too long so its better for the people who really and truly love, adore and care for you to have the courage to tell you the blunt ugly truth than you hearing it from someone else. And when you do hear the truth, dont shoot the messenger, embrace him because its very hard to be in his shoes.