Truth Translator (WAW)

It’s Wednesday, so you know what that means. Time for another Write Anything Wednesday post! Yea!

I honestly love it.

Anyway, this week, I wanted to talk about something I think about a lot.

This might be showing my age, but does anyone remember a Nickelodeon show called Welcome Freshmen? It was on in the early 1990s.

(That’s not the original cast, but that’s the theme song.)

I still remember it. I still remember the names of the original cast members. (Don’t ask me about the actors’ names, though.) There was Merv, Alex, Tara, Kevin, and Walter. Mr. Lippman was the Vice-Principal. (“Freshmen. What a curse!”)

One episode I think about was one that had a fake advertisement segment with a truth translator, or whatever it was called. In the faux commercial, Kevin would use the truth translator whenever another person talked.

Basically, people lied. The translator would reveal what the person it was used on was really thinking. For instance, a girl could say she liked another girl’s wardrobe when that wasn’t the truth. The translator revealed that. And it worked until Kevin was getting an F in one of his classes. He used it on his teacher but the teacher really meant what he said.

Why do I think of this segment? Well, I would like to think that a truth translator would have a similar result it had on the teacher if one was used on me in most situations.

The truth is people do lie. Many of us lie and say nice things to people when we don’t mean it. Many of us apologize when we don’t mean it. I have been nice to individuals I couldn’t stand, mainly because some outside force was telling me to behave. And those people were absolute jerks.

No one needs a translator for me…unless I’m in a situation like that. And when I’m talking trash, which I like to do from time to time. However, a person that knows me well enough will know when I’m doing it. I can lie, but I don’t like to. When I make blog posts or posts on other forms of social media, I want to write the same as I would talk or think. I want to be genuine and respectful, yet sometimes it’s very, very hard to stay calm when the other person is acting like a brat.

And that’s part of the reason it’s hard for me to make comments sometimes. I want to first read the entire post before I comment because that is honest. After reading a post, I have to find an angle to spark a conversation, but sometimes the material makes it hard for me to do it. I want that to be honest and polite because that is what I expect from others. And when I compliment someone, it needs to be genuine.

It’s also hard for me to sell myself or my talents. That and a lack of a plan going in is probably why I suck so much at Twitter. (Anyone willing to tutor me, by the way?)

Where was I?

I really think honesty is the best policy. Sometimes things get done faster by just telling the truth. Why lie when there’s no pressure? If you don’t like something, you can either say so politely (especially when asked) or use silence effectively. There are times when all someone needs is constructive criticism or to be pointed in the right direction. There are people who can take it and prefer the truth anyway.

Now, if only we could speak up more to authority more when we don’t like disrespectful or lazy classmates or co-workers…