Honesty may be the best policy, after all. Because the word "honesty" is often used with the phrase "good old-fashioned," it may also be a new concept for many people. Reuters reports that a 30-year-old Swedish care worker, unable to find employment, ran a newspaper ad reading, "I want a well-paid job. I have no imagination, I am anti-social, uncreative and untalented." "Her phone started ringing incessantly and job offers poured in," reports the news service. As a result, other people might discover that telling the truth will make their lives similarly successful and less complicated. They will no longer have to remember twisted story lines about their own pasts. They will be able to shake off the sticky webs Sir Walter Scott warned us about long ago — "O what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!" The Swedish woman’s new employer will undoubtedly experience few surprises or disappointments with her job performance. Work hours won’t interfere with her non-existent social life and she won’t be taking personal phone calls on company time. Total honesty could lead to definite changes in all of our lives. For example, golf scores and fishing stories will be considerably less colorful and exciting when the truth is told. The IRS would no longer have to be suspicious of the income tax forms submitted to their offices. Without the possibility of stretching the truth, little will be said during most political campaigns. When lies disappear from our lives, they will be accompanied by other forms of deception such as face lifts, tooth caps, elevated shoes, toupees and hair dyes. "Putting on an honest face" will take on new meaning. What people see will be what they get. There will be no more fictionalized job resumes, listing schools never attended and degrees never received. The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth may unfortunately be bad news for manufacturers of lie detectors and antiperspirants. The latter is mentioned because there will be less nervous perspiration brought about by guilt or lying. In addition, total honesty in our lives will mean not caring if other people see us sweat. Our personal lives would change dramatically. "Why not go out with my friend Joe? Granted, he’s not much to look at, he’s dull and there’s a good possibility any children you have with him will resemble space aliens. He hasn’t worked for a while and he lives with his parents. But look at it this way — he really has a strong sense of family." "Well, here’s dinner. The mashed potatoes are lumpy and don’t bother looking at the bottom-sides of the pork chops. The oven fire was out of control." "Before you open that letter from the principal’s office, Dad, there’s something you should know. I haven’t shown up for classes for a couple of months now and I’m seriously considering a career in fast foods. I want to make a name for myself in french fry and onion ring management." Total truthfulness in our lives means we will have to be more than "honest as the day is long." We will also have to be honest after the sun goes down.
