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SpeakOut: Is Honesty Always The Best Policy?
In today’s world, where too much emphasis is on being politically correct, so as to not ruffle the feathers of many, Goal.com ponders whether the famous idiom on honesty still holds true...
25-Jun-2009 5:51:21 PM
There was a King, who was very fond of the clown, who would
poke jokes at everyone. Most of the jokes were slapstick, and had the King in
splits. The jester wouldn’t spare anyone and one fine day, it was the King
himself who was the subject of his pranks.
Everyone in the court expected the King to be furious and sent the clown to the prison but instead, the Emperor was busy laughing his heart out. The joker addressed the King with the choicest of names, mimicked him and made him look like a complete buffoon while His Highness continued to enjoy.
While the show was on, all of a sudden the King blasted the clown and ordered for him to be banished from his court forever. The sudden change in demeanour left the clown baffled. He wasn’t disappointed at being exiled but, he had a doubt which he wanted an answer for.
He requested one of the court officials to seek permission to meet the King in private for one last time, which the latter duly acknowledged. When the clown entered the King’s room, the sovereign asked for his assistants to leave.
The clown asked, “I called you various names tonight but what hurt you that you suddenly changed your behaviour towards me. I thought you were enjoying the show?”
The King removed his turban and showed a bald head. “You called me bald and that’s what hurt me the most,” answered the King. He further explained that when the clown was poking fun at him, he wasn’t bothered much as he knew it was all false, but that wasn’t the case when he called him a “bald man.”
What do we learn from this story? That often truth hurts. In today’s fast paced life, people have less of the once highly regarded ideals of patience, tolerance, persistence, calmness and much more. There’s no time to develop or imbibe such qualities, in the rat race which almost everyone is part of.
Recently, Indian national team coach, Bob Houghton spoke his mind out and was honest about he felt about Indian football in his three years’ tenure so far. He blasted those running the show – the administrators, and didn’t leave the Indian sports minister, M.S.Gill as well, who had earlier ridiculed the Indian football team stating that they would even lose an Australian school side.
Houghton added that in the current scenario if India is ranked around 140, then it’s an achievement!
“If with such facilities we are number 140 (in FIFA rankings) then we are doing well, I should say,” Houghton was quoted saying.
Most, if not all, would agree that what he stated in his media address had naked facts laid out in the open. But very often, facts or truth tend to hurt and people aren’t receptive towards it. Or even though they may recognize what was said, but wouldn’t come out in the open to show their support for being “politically correct” again.
It’s said that the best way to get the point across is to sugar coat the truth or indirectly, make the person in front understand the point without the least disappointment, so that it doesn’t leave a bad taste.
‘Calling a spade, a spade’ doesn’t help always as seen in this incident. Not many have come out in the open to show support to the Englishman. Even fact, the All India Football Federation (AIFF), who had organised the conference in their office, distanced themselves from Houghton’s remarks.
Then again, to some extent, Houghton was speaking out of frustration with the system and seeing the same old attitude day in and day out. I remember a senior Indian international once remarked saying,"Anyone who works with Indian football ends up being frustrated." After three years of working, it can get to one’s nerves and it was about time for Houghton to speak out.
But has it helped? Has being honest made any difference? It was only miffed a few, who Houghton wouldn’t even consider giving a thought. But at the end of the day, it’s these people who are part of Indian football!
Rahul Bali.
Everyone in the court expected the King to be furious and sent the clown to the prison but instead, the Emperor was busy laughing his heart out. The joker addressed the King with the choicest of names, mimicked him and made him look like a complete buffoon while His Highness continued to enjoy.
While the show was on, all of a sudden the King blasted the clown and ordered for him to be banished from his court forever. The sudden change in demeanour left the clown baffled. He wasn’t disappointed at being exiled but, he had a doubt which he wanted an answer for.
He requested one of the court officials to seek permission to meet the King in private for one last time, which the latter duly acknowledged. When the clown entered the King’s room, the sovereign asked for his assistants to leave.
The clown asked, “I called you various names tonight but what hurt you that you suddenly changed your behaviour towards me. I thought you were enjoying the show?”
The King removed his turban and showed a bald head. “You called me bald and that’s what hurt me the most,” answered the King. He further explained that when the clown was poking fun at him, he wasn’t bothered much as he knew it was all false, but that wasn’t the case when he called him a “bald man.”
What do we learn from this story? That often truth hurts. In today’s fast paced life, people have less of the once highly regarded ideals of patience, tolerance, persistence, calmness and much more. There’s no time to develop or imbibe such qualities, in the rat race which almost everyone is part of.
Recently, Indian national team coach, Bob Houghton spoke his mind out and was honest about he felt about Indian football in his three years’ tenure so far. He blasted those running the show – the administrators, and didn’t leave the Indian sports minister, M.S.Gill as well, who had earlier ridiculed the Indian football team stating that they would even lose an Australian school side.
Houghton added that in the current scenario if India is ranked around 140, then it’s an achievement!
“If with such facilities we are number 140 (in FIFA rankings) then we are doing well, I should say,” Houghton was quoted saying.
Most, if not all, would agree that what he stated in his media address had naked facts laid out in the open. But very often, facts or truth tend to hurt and people aren’t receptive towards it. Or even though they may recognize what was said, but wouldn’t come out in the open to show their support for being “politically correct” again.
It’s said that the best way to get the point across is to sugar coat the truth or indirectly, make the person in front understand the point without the least disappointment, so that it doesn’t leave a bad taste.
‘Calling a spade, a spade’ doesn’t help always as seen in this incident. Not many have come out in the open to show support to the Englishman. Even fact, the All India Football Federation (AIFF), who had organised the conference in their office, distanced themselves from Houghton’s remarks.
Then again, to some extent, Houghton was speaking out of frustration with the system and seeing the same old attitude day in and day out. I remember a senior Indian international once remarked saying,"Anyone who works with Indian football ends up being frustrated." After three years of working, it can get to one’s nerves and it was about time for Houghton to speak out.
But has it helped? Has being honest made any difference? It was only miffed a few, who Houghton wouldn’t even consider giving a thought. But at the end of the day, it’s these people who are part of Indian football!
Rahul Bali.
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