A Question of Honesty...

I believe that I treat everyone with an equal level of honesty, but I do have trouble talking to people who are notorious liars. I feel like I can't trust anything they say at all, so I just tune out or find a way to leave the conversation. Not to say I don't think I've ever lied to a liar... I'm pretty sure I have. But it's not something I'm proud of or feel like I should continue doing. Even people who aren't honest need to see some honesty.

No for first question, yes for second question. Honesty is not something that is adopted for others. It is something, some policy, some discipline that is adopted, cultivated and injected into your blood for yourselves. It never matters what the other fellow is. Of course, many people who were not honest with anyone else were honest with me, at least up to some extent. So what I say is, regardless of what the other person is, "Honesty, as it has been and as it is and as it will happen to be, the best policy that can be ever made".

I am wary of other people when I first meet them no matter what reputation they have. Whether they have the reputation as being a notorious liar and a really honest person I would still share the same level of honesty with them. I try not to give out too much personal information that can either be used against me or put my reputation in jeopardy. It's one of my many defense mechanisms. I've learned in the past that the way one person might act around other people may not neccessarily be the same way they will act around you. So while a new friend might be called a notorious liar by some that same person can probably be the person to harbor all my deepest, darkest secrets.