By Olivene Godfrey

In the October Good housekeeping online survey, thirty percent confessed they have lied about how somebody looks. I'm certainly not going to get into the moral aspects of telling little, white lies. I suppose there are persons who believe a little lie is the same as a big, whopping one.

However, I think more highly of the person who out of kindness resorts to the little lie than I do of the person who prides himself on being perfectly honest regardless of how much pain his honesty causes others.

Persons who are brutally frank sometimes seem to enjoy inflicting pain on others. Most of us know individuals who are consistently tactless in their dealings with others and insist that, "the truth never hurt anyone."

I can't agree with that statement. Most of us know the truth about ourselves and family members. We know our vulnerable spots and we certainly aren't helped when others insist on pointing out our weaknesses to us.

And those who do have emotional blind spots aren't going to appreciate or be helped by a tactless remark concerning them. I guess in the long run kindness and basic honesty go together.

A reader said she would sometimes like to reply to some of my philosophies about life and I invited her to do so in the future. If you agree with me, I would be delighted to hear from you. If you disagree with me or have other ideas I certainly would welcome them.

Comments may be made to olivene21@netscape.net