Secrets: I tell you mine...if you tell me yours!

So today's blog is more about some social polling questions. Have you ever noticed that people who proclaim the loudest they are honest and/or real with people are actually the people with the most to hide? It is entirely possible it's just me and the people I have encountered through my life, but it sure feels that way. Sort of like the ones who spend the most time saying they are not fake are actually the fakest people you have ever met!

Lord knows if I had a nickel for every time I have been called "white trash", "trailer trash", "single white female", "gold digger", or any other colorful euphemism during my life, I wouldn't have to work, however we all know calling someone a baseless derogatory name doesn't make it true, it just makes the name caller an ass. Regardless of what people may or may not think of me, there has never been one single part of my life I have hid from, lied about or altered for the purposes of glorification. I am who I am and I do not need to do things in my life, real or made up, for the purpose of soliciting compliments and praise from others. My ego is fine. The same cannot be said of many of the people I know who have said many negative things about me and I do have to say, I truly find that fascinating. You would think for people who can so easily judge and make accusations against others, their life must be as clean and clear as Christ himself. Almost like they live in glass houses! Then again, it is also said, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones! In some cases the acts these people have committed are so cruel, so vial, and sometimes, so illegal, the only thing keeping them from being a felon I believe is their zip code i.e. where they grew up. Society would like to believe that your social status has nothing to do these days with what you can get away with in your adolescents and even adulthood, but we all know that just isn't the case.

Another interesting question: Have you ever wondered what parents everywhere would actually do, think, and/or say if they ever found out the things their kids have actually done or the things their adult children did when they were younger? I know my sisters, my brother, and myself have had many discussions and many laughs over the years about the things we did when we younger, with our dad sitting there, none of which were illegal, at least I think...lol. I think the worst consisted of smoking in the house or drinking before the age of 21, but I do think it would make for an interesting social experiment! I mean just think, as a parent haven't you ever been curious to know what kinds of things your kids do and/or did once they had the ability to have a little more freedom? What secrets they have kept locked up all these years? What kinds of activities they thought mom and dad would never find out about? Tell the truth and shame the devil! To take it even a step further, what if spouses confessed all the things during the raising of the children they had kept from one other? It seems logical when raising kids, there as times that mom will not tell dad something or dad will not tell mom something. Here's the kicker, some are harmless, some not so much! Some of those "they don't really need to know about this moments" could have been severely detrimental to the growing and learning process of a developing mind, not to mention what it can do to the trust and honesty in a marriage. To me, it's one of the more advocating statements as to why parents should communicate everything, especially when it comes to their children, but then again, that is my belief and not something I expect everyone to agree with.

The point is I don't believe honesty, trust, integrity, morals, and ethics were ever intended to be guidelines within relationships that could be used behind a curtain of ambiguity. Honesty means just that, trust means just that, integrity means just that, morals mean just that, and ethics mean just that. If you are going to say you are one of these types of people, then be one of these types of people. Growing up and being human is not a "success only journey". We make mistakes, we screw up, doesn't mean it is intentional or that we are bad people, but we still make choices and when you make those choices you have to own them. You don't get to sit there and cast condemnation on others just because your think your skeletons are locked behind a better, fancier door. People can say what they want about me and my poor, white trash self, but I have nothing to hide because my skeletons and secrets are always welcome to party on the holidays. Can you say the same about yours?