Dad's Past

Dad never finished education at the university. He's the second child out of six and he had to quit studying at the uni to help out feed the family. My grandpa's business collapsed and then he died and my grandma couldn't do anything much with the family's finance. Out of the six children, only the youngest one finished his education at the university.

For years Dad worked as a bookkeeper in a bread company and then he moved to a private-owned business. After years of earning his bread there, he quit (I don't remember anymore why, but I guess the situation got bad enough for him to want to quit) and the boss' wife told him, "You're not going to be a successful man. You're too honest."

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Dad got so pumped up hearing that. From that day on, he worked as best as he could and still kept his honesty and integrity intact. What is success anyway? For me, my Dad IS a successful man because he's kept his honesty and integrity intact wherever he works. He's managed to send two children off to the university without tricking anybody out to get "rich". He's always so careful with money and budgeting, so he never got us in trouble with any of his decisions.

Here I am now, thinking that it's such a shame that in this world, there're people who think that being honest in one's dealings means that one will never be successful.

Hypocrisy: Where's The Line?

One friend made me think of this topic when we were talking about a scenario. In this scenario, the mother-in-law is criticising a woman 'coz she's chosen a good private school for her child (which proves to be rather expensive). The mother-in-law wants her to send the child to a much cheaper school, but the woman is determined to give the child the best education she can give him, even though it means she has to take out her own savings to do so.

So, when the mother-in-laws keeps on giving suggestions, the woman just nods and says "yes, yes, yes, that sounds good indeed", but behind her, she just does whatever she wants for the sake of her child.

One friend said that she can't do what this woman does, 'coz she feels that it means she's being a hypocrite. I guess if she were in this woman's position, she'd fight with all her might to explain it to the MIL even though it means there might be a verbal fight between them.

What do you think of this scenario? What's your POV? Where's the line between being a hypocrite and being "a peacemaker" (at least in this scenario the woman can be called that, I suppose)?

IMO, I think the woman is clever enough to balance things out. She respects the MIL's suggestions and accepts her criticisms, but she still does what she believes to be the best for the sake of her own child. After all, it's HER money and HER child, not the MIL's money and child.

I believe in honesty, but I don't believe that brutal honesty helps out in many scenarios (even though some people may think it's a kind of hypocrite act).

Best Online Dating Sites and Matchmaking Services

Dating is something I can no longer do, but as you all know, I met my husband from the internet, so I'm one of those people who believe that meeting your soulmate through the internet is not only a possibility, but also a fact of life.

If you want to find the best online dating sites and matchmaking services, you can click on the above site. They have a list of online dating sites and matchmaking services along with brief explanations on each site. For example, if you're a Christian and you want to find other Christians to date, then you can visit this page: Christian Singles Dating Services.

And if you're looking for matchmaking sites where you have to do compatibility tests in order for them to help you find compatible dates, you can go here: Matchmaking Services. All the sites listed on that page have one purpose, which is to help singles create and maintain long-term relationships.

Other than that, the site also gives important tips to those singles looking for dates or spouses. Here is one of them: How to Find Your Soulmate. I like the tips written down on the page since they're the kind of tips I'd give to anyone looking for a serious relationship.

Personally speaking, I think honesty is always an important factor in finding the one for you. After all, how can you give someone a chance to love you for who you are if you're hiding your true self, right?

How My Parents Raised Us: Honesty

The other day my friends and I talked about how our parents raised us. I'm going to share something funny about it and I may write more on this topic.

Anyway, ever since we were kids, Mom would tell us, "I don't want you to lie about anything. I promise that I won't get mad if you're honest with me." I confess that I had lied a few times to my parents. Back in Elementary School, after our teachers graded our quizzes, we had to get our parents' signature and got the quiz books back to our teachers. A few times when I got bad marks, I faked my Mom's or Dad's signature HE HE HE HE HE HE...Yeah, yeah, I'm a bad girl LOL!!!!

But I've gotta say that my brother really heeded my Mom's words. One time he came up to my Mom and said, "Mom, didn't you promise me that you wouldn't be angry if I were honest to you?" And my Mom naturally said yes (probably she became suspicious already by then HA HA HA HA HA...)

Then my brother said, "I got 4 on a quiz today. Here it is."

My Mom was probably a bit disappointed, but she had promised not to be angry, right? So she said to him, "That's allright. Listen up, next time you'd better study hard. Even though you got 4 today, if you get 10 next time, then your mean score would still be 7, understand?"

Side note: Ever since we were kids, Mom said to us, "I don't need you to get a 9 or 10 all the time. I'd be happy even if you get a 6. As long as you don't get red marks in your report cards, then it's fine with me." ----> I LOVE HER FOR THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;-D

There's another funny story about honesty. Back in Elementary School (still), on handicraft lessons, we sometimes had to make hard stuff. We couldn't possibly make them without our Mom's help ----> Mom's a VERY creative person (she's an EXCELLENT cook, she can make clothing patterns and she did make some clothes for me when they didn't have too much money to buy new ones, and she can turn scrap of fabric into something nice).

One day our handicraft teacher told us to make something hard and she told us NOT to do it with our parents' help. My Mom told me not to tell the teacher that she had helped me, and I heeded her words. Then my brother was taught by the same teacher and my Mom helped him make something. When it was time to submit the handicrafts, the teacher asked all the students in the classroom, "Did you get some help doing it?" and my brother said yes.

Yup...it seems that my Mom had really instilled honesty in my brother's heart and mind, whereas I had learnt lying by omission or white lies when necessary HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...Ahem!!! *wink*

As I said before, my Mom's a storyteller. She never gets tired telling us about this story. Honestly speaking, none of us remembered about this, but I'm glad she loves telling us stories that we don't remember he he he he...

Honesty

Honesty is still the best policy in my book, yet brutal honesty is something that this world doesn't need (except maybe when we need to be brutally honest to ourselves in order to improve/heal ourselves, since self-denial will always be our doom). Why should we be brutally honest, anyway, if it's only going to hurt other people? It's hard enough to keep peace with all the "diplomats" in the world.