Reply To: Honesty vs popularity

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January 23, 2025 at 8:41 am #33366

I don’t know if respect and likability are diametrically opposed to one another. I think there are many times that people can be honest and be well liked. However, there’s always the risk that being honest might make you less likeable, especially if it casts someone else in a negative light or challenges their belief about themselves. Often people don’t want to accept the truth if it is an inconvenient truth. If it’s a truth that’s not pleasant to hear, people would prefer not to acknowledge it. Martha, given her role as a midwife, is front and center for a major life event. And she is challenged to share what she knows honestly, but it’s not always what people want to hear. Her assessment that Burgess was hanged, not drowned, and her testimony in Rebecca’s case, are both inconvenient truths for several of the townsfolk, especially North.

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