Words I always remember...

As a kid, my sister and I often butted heads. We were not the type to get physical about our disagreements. One reason behind that is my size versus my sister's. Even though I'm younger, I passed my petit sister up when I was about 5 or 6 so getting physical wasn't very smart on her part. Instead we liked to fling insults and yell at each other.

Because of our love for verbal abuse, my mom often said to us over the years, "If you can't say anything nice, DON'T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL!" These words of wisdom have often come to mind, even as I became an adult. It came in handy at work when I really wanted to tell my former boss a few truths even though they weren't very nice. I kept them to myself and probably helped my career by doing so.

However, there are times when letting out the ugly truth is beneficial. At least to me it is and sometimes to the other person too. That's the problem. You never know how that other person will react to the ugly truth. It may end a friendship. However, in not wanting to say something potentially hurtful to another person, it ends up hurting me.

I recently read a comment written by a friend on another blog. I applaud that person for speaking the ugly truth after many years of keeping those potentially hurtful thoughts to themselves. I wasn't really able to do it myself. I still can't seem to do it. Mom drilled that lesson into me hard.