The Price of Truth.

A couple of years ago, I saw a female colleague step out of her car.

But I was not the only guy who did.

All of a sudden, almost everyone in the duty office started to chuckle mischievously.

“She looks like a scarecrow.” one female officer said, shaking her head in disgust.

“Whoever did her hair deserves to be shot!” another one added while the office erupted in laughter.

But as soon as the woman walked into the office, the same colleagues began to pay her all forms of compliments:

“Wow…your hair is cute!”

“Where did you get your hair done…it’s lovely.”

Seeing that I chose that moment to walk toward the kitchen, the woman followed.

“Hey, what is it?” she asked me. “You must be the only one who doesn’t like my hair?”

Smiling, I asked if she wanted to hear the truth and she answered in the affirmative.

“You’re my friend…” she stated coyly. “What’s your opinion.”

“Okay…” I began to say. “Your hairstyle is horrible…too bogus…”

The woman stopped in her tracks as she glared at me for a brief moment.

“You can be very mean!” she snapped, even in subdued anger.

“But I asked if you wanted to hear the truth…” I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

“Fuck the truth!” the woman insisted. “How could you be so mean? I spent a fortune on this hair…and why is it that everyone is impressed except you?”

She was about to walk away in anger when I called her back. I asked if she would be matured in her reaction to what I was about to tell her? After getting her assurance, I told her precisely what the other colleagues had said as she approached the duty office.

“Now tell me…” I continued to say. “Who is mean…me or those mischievous people?”

It took a few seconds for her to digest the information. Afterwards, she shook my hands, thanking me for being so forthright with her.

“Listen,” she began to say. “I saw the style on some women and loved it…that’s why I did it…”

“The problem is with the shape of your head.” I tried to explain. “There is too much space between the forehead and the hairline.”

“Wow!” she nodded with a wry smile. “What the hell are you doing in law enforcement? You should have been a stylist.”

Truth is like a pill that we all rely on to relieve us of both physical and emotional pains. Yet, many of us hate taking it because it’s too pricey and bitter to taste. Most times, people say “truth hurts” and this is why they believe it’s too dicey to tell the truth even when the other party demands for it. But in the long run, truth will always prevail because “no matter how long a lie travels, truth will sooner or later catch up with it.”