So here's the thing

Did you ever hear anyone follow the phrase, "Let's be honest (get real, tell the truth, whatever)," with something nice? One of my own little pet peeves, for a long time now, has been what I see as a general tendency to equate "honest" with "unpleasant" (or "unpopular" or "outspoken"). Number one, I think that the whole truth is generally more complex than that, and number two, it seems to me that sometimes people who use this particular phrase are just patting themselves on the back while shooting their mouths off. As in, not taking the time to examine a situation fully, and be accurate about what they say, but just go for the obvious unpleasantness. (I know, I shoot my mouth off a lot, but I'm not proud of it. So now I guess I'm flouting my humility, which is not a whole lot better. God, you just can't win.)

So what made me think of this? I found something in Maya Angelou's book of collected essays, Wouldn't Give Nothing for my Journey Now, that just leaped off the page for me. In her essay, "Brutality Is Definitely Not Acceptable," she gives her response to people who say, "Don't mind me, I'm brutally frank."

...I do mind brutality in any of its guises, and I will not be lured into accepting it merely because the brute asks me to do so.

Thank you, Maya Angelou, from the bottom of my heart. I only wish Ann Coulter could learn from her.