Honesty is the preferred policy

So, I had no intention of continuing this blog while in the States, being as I started it to keep family in touch with my happenings abroad, and also found that my life abroad was far more interesting. I have, however, discovered, since my return, that insightful occurrences have woven their way into the fabric of my everyday life and a recent turn of events. That being said, I plan to only use this blog as a continuation of thoughts previously begun "sous le ciel de Paris."

As previously stated in a different entry, I have found honesty to not only be the best policy, but the one most preferred. How often do you find yourself saying, "Man, I hope that person lies to me" or "I hope they aren't telling me the truth." Hardly ever, I would imagine. I was recently caught off-guard by someone trying to play the courtship game... something in which I used to pride myself in being quite crafty, but frankly, this time, I was stumped. I had stopped trying to play games, and instead just thought in the moment instead of planning or analyzing anyone's next move. Talk about stress relief, until you feel frustrated and confused. At this moment, I actually told the other person that I would prefer them to speak plainly, and believe it or not, the conversation went much better with both of us feeling more confident and understood. This is a perfect example of how people ultimately find relief in being frank when the recipient is receptive.

Working its way into this notion is the concept behind the restaurant by which I am employed for the summer. In looking for work recently, I was lucky to have found it at the newly opened, trendy restaurant, ZED 451 in downtown Chicago. This restaurant fits into my discussion of honesty in that I have never in my life experienced a restaurant whose approach to its guests was as focused on creating an authentic atmosphere and not simply putting on a show in the aspects of its presentation. The idea is to treat guests as though we are throwing a house party and our friends chose our house party over all the others in the city. We do not introduce ourselves nor give a speech, but instead simply talk to the guests as though they are in our home. There is a line in the mission statement that says "We do not deliver a thing, from the music to the food, without passion." There is a rule that anyone on the floor is allowed to not serve something if they do not think it is up to par. It is not a mindset of "fool the customer" but rather one of honesty and pride.

Often times pride itself can lead to dishonesty, which causes some very obvious problems and dilemmas unless one can take a step back and reevaluate why the two are in conflict to begin with. There is a line from "The Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood" which speaks directly to this concept and further elaborates on the discussion. As much as I was hesitant to watch a movie based on crazy middle aged women bonding over heaven knows what, I have to say, it is very much worth watching, if only for its assertions about truth and honesty. The line I am referencing goes like this: "Eventually, you learn what people are trying to hide by how they are trying to hide it." I love this quote simply for how true it is. Which brings us back to the cliché that "honesty is the best policy." Just be honest with others and yourself and you will be less burdened by stress and lies... a pretty good trade off in my opinion.