Truth is at the heart of trust --- If I say I love your food, you will take me at my word because you trust me to be truthful. If you then discover that I never eat Mexican food and actually told somebody that I hated it, you would stop trusting me and recognise me for the hypocrite that I am. All sorts of consequences will then follow from this loss of trust, including the likely unravelling of our relationship.

Our assumption of truthfulness allows for a little bit of exaggeration but not for hypocrisy. You may decide to give me the benefit of the doubt for a while but my actions will ultimately have to back up my words if I am to retain any integrity in your eyes.

Source author: Biljana Scott biscott@diplomacy.edu