My parents, i think, set me up for the idea that by being yourself, you would meet the right people. By not caring what they thought, i was very free in a way that other kids weren't. As a 16, 17 year old, i couldn't see anyone else as honest. The teen agers at school were just trying to look cool. It was obvious to me that they were not showing any of the things that were really going on with them. And i couldn't take it seriously. How could i get involved in the teen age drama if i had just seen these people pouring out their hearts and saying the most, the deepest things they had in front of me
In an era of fake news and 'alternative facts', the issue of truth and how it is presented to the world has never been more timely. But on a personal level, things are less clear cut. We all tell white lies and withhold info in the name of manners and politeness from time to time and some of the hardest truths can feel very difficult to tell. Micheal Leviton is a writer and musician from Brooklyn whose book, To Be Honest: A Memoir, tells his own story of growing up in a family who, according to Michael, never lied. His upbringing meant that by the age of 29 he could only recall having lied three times in his life. The challenges of being brutally honest on a daily basis have been the basis of much soul searching for the author and also serve as the foundation of a few entertaining tales in his book. He joins Intelligence Squared producer Catharine Hughes to talk about it.
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