21 Inner Beauty Inspirations #17

17. On the importance of not being earnest.

So when I was a teenager I remember my mum turning to me in exasperation and saying "do you really need to be so honest?  Its ok not to be honest all the time!".
And I admit... its a bit of a theme for me.  I am compelled to speak the truth, and there have been many many times when I have regretted it.  Sometimes because people have been unnecessarily hurt, sometimes because you can't take it back once it is said, sometimes because the "truth" is a relative and unstable construct...and it changes... and again, you can't unsay it once it is said....
And yesterday I had another lesson in this.
Its pretty gross so if you are "delicate" then stop reading now...
So I was sitting on a stool (the chair type) in the toilet room while my daughter worked to deposit a stool (the non-chair type) in the said toilet.  We were having a chat, as we are wont to do to pass the time and keep things relaxed.  Its not been an easy journey to this point...but that would be digressing.
So we were talking about her pregnant teacher.  I have answered my angel's questions all about where she came from and how she was born...so she asked me "mummy, will the doctor cut open Teacher Lyn's tummy and take the baby out?"
And here is where I should have stopped myself and resorted to Santa Claus/Easter Bunny style babble.
Instead I said... "well maybe, but sometimes women don't have their tummies cut open, sometimes they push the baby out through their 'gina's, a bit like pushing out a really big poo...but its a baby that comes out, and its from your gina not your bottom."
And we moved on.
Later that night.... I was awakened by hysteria.  Nightmares.  Desperately trying to hold in her wee, shouting "no wee, don't come out!!" and refusing to go to the toilet, while wailing in misery.  Finally I, in total confusion, managed to persuade her to sit on the toilet...where-upon she started wailing again... and as she finally started to get the words together between the sobs...I heard "sob,noooooo waaa, baby... boooohooooooooo out...my gina! waaaaaaaaah"
And that is when I learned my lesson.
Think before you speak.  Honesty is not always wise, nor appropriate, nor kind.
And this is my inner beauty message for today.
Paradoxical - but true.