Classification Essay.

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The Truth about Honesty
According to Thomas Jefferson, “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” To begin the journey of wisdom one must learn that honesty can take on many forms. We use honesty differently in each situation and shape it to form the outcome in which we desire. The different forms of honesty are: brutal honesty, conventional honesty, and sugarcoated honesty.
Brutal honesty is telling the truth with a harsh opinion that is not necessary. Brutal honesty is just what the name implies- brutal. When asked a question a person will blurt out what is exactly on their mind. Take for example when a person asks the cliché question of, “Does this make me look fat?” they would say “Of course it does.” They are answering what they believe to be the truth, but they do not take into consideration the other person’s feelings. Others learn to not ask a brutally honest person a question unless they are fully capable of hearing the full truth of their opinion. I have a friend that anytime you ask her a question she responds with her honest opinion. I once asked her to read a poem I wrote and for her to tell me if it needed to be revised. After she read it she told me the whole poem needed to be threw out. I took this hard, but I learned she was just being honest. Her opinion hurt, but that’s just the form of honesty that she uses. I believe telling the truth is important, but putting a harsh statement into crosses the line.
Conventional honesty is the orthodox meaning of telling the “whole truth and nothing but the truth.” This is used mostly in simple questions that lack your opinion with a yes or no answer. It’s a straightforward answer that gets to the point. There are only two choices, to lie or to be honest. When asked, “Did you go to town last night” the answer is going to be yes or no. This type of honesty sometimes tends to be the toughest. Take for example; one day I had broken my sister’s necklace. When she asked me if I had broken it, I had only 2 choices. I could have told the truth or lie to her and try to cover up the lie. Either way was going to be a negative outcome. If I had told the truth she would have been upset with me and if I hade lied I would have felt guilty about being dishonest with her. Even though it was tempting to opt out of her temper-tantrum, I still was honest and told her that I had broken it. This honesty is the most common, but hardest type of honesty.
Sugarcoated honesty is when you tell the truth but you make it sound more pleasing then reality. This is used mostly to manipulate a situation. Upon answering a question a person will try to please the person who asked the question. Sometimes it is used to sacrifice the feelings of someone else. When asked, “Do you like this dress?” a person who is not partially fond of it would say, “That dress is not my favorite, you have a lot of other pretty ones though.” They got their true thoughts across without harming how the other felt. I experienced this situation even I was asked to be in a club. I wasn’t interested in being on the club since I had to many things on my plate already. So to decline nicely I said, “I would love to be in the club, but I just don’t think I can.” It told him that his club was worthwhile, however I didn’t want to participate. Sugarcoating is honesty that flatters while answering they way you want.
Honesty comes in many forms and we must be careful in which we pick to use. Situations and feelings can be easily manipulated by our words. Each type tells the truth, but differs by how it takes the feelings of others into consideration. Like Thomas Jefferson said, “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”