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VIR-I-0036

“I shaded the facts to win the argument and I knew I was doing it.”

VIR · Pillar I — Virtue VIR-I · Tell the Truth. Even When It Costs You.

You didn't lie outright. You just left out the part that would have cost you the point, bent the emphasis, won on a technicality of omission. You felt it as you did it. A half-truth deployed to win is still a small betrayal of the thing you claim to stand for. The win isn't real if you had to fake the ground to get it.

Your Practice

  1. Name to yourself the exact thing you left out or bent. No softening it.
  2. Go back to the person and add what you dropped. 'I want to be fair — I left something out.'
  3. Let the point fall if it falls. Being right matters less than being honest.
  4. Next argument, lead with the inconvenient fact, not around it.

More under VIR-I

VIR-I-0001“I lied and now it's eating me alive.”VIR-I-0002“I know what I should do, but it's going to cost me.”VIR-I-0003“I told the truth even though it hurt — and I feel free.”VIR-I-0004“I chose honesty over convenience and it paid off.”VIR-I-0005“My integrity just cost me something — and I'd do it again.”VIR-I-0006“I'm tempted to stretch the truth to get what I want.”
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