Has honesty gone too far?

In high school, I have come upon many brutally honest people. These are the people who consider no comment to be off limits, no matter how hurtful or rude. They then attempt to compensate for the rudeness of their comment by throwing in a “no offense” or “I’m just being honest.”

I was once approached by one of these all too truthful individuals. ”Girl, no offense,” she started, “But your hair looks absolutely awful.” I stared back in disbelief. I decided to try to morph her comment into constructive criticism: “Oh, uh how can I fix it then?” I was sure that someone with such a large opinion would have some advice for a hair challenged commoner like myself. “You can’t; it’s unfixable,” was all she could manage.

These people seem to think that they are doing the world a favor with their verboseness, when all they truly do is hurt feelings and ruin fine days. When we were young and our parents told us that “honesty is the best policy,” they forgot to mention the cases in which some information should be omitted.

For example, I would never approach a sweat suit clad individual and say, “That sweat suit is absolutely hideous.” Yes, the sweat suit may be hideous, but I have no business criticizing the fashion choices of others.

In order to keep mouthy outbursts to a minimum, one should consider the following criteria: Is this comment constructive/ helpful? Could this comment hurt someone’s feelings? What can be gained from me saying this?
If a positive outcome will not come from your comment, then please keep it to yourself.

Yes honesty is good and one of the best policies, but there’s a difference between being honest and being a jerk. So here’s my words of wisdom to you, delightful honest friends: I’m glad that you remember that honesty is the best policy, but don’t forget another important idiom: If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.