Be Straight.

"Be straight," now that's a catchy phrase. We ask people everyday to be straight with us, except we might not be ready to accept the truth. And as much as we try to convince ourselves about how strong we are to know, we're still jarred after we learn those things we were not aware of. It is just as Ingrid Michaelson's song says, "we are just breakable girls and boys." But still, we keep on asking others, to "be straight." With this phrase, we choose, we choose to face the unknown, ignoring the fact that at the end, we might just regret that we chose. End of story."Be straight," there's no other phrase that represents so much, so much fear, everything we do not know. Still, we are so incoherent we keep on saying it; we keep on asking for it, just because we think we're strong enough to handle it.It also happens that sometimes, we are the ones forced to be straight with someone, about something, somewhere. Sometimes it's our turn to advise our loved ones, and still, our advice may just be too much to deal with. Although every time we finally prepare ourselves to tell the truth, something gets in the way. Thank God. Yet there's a doubt in being honest, whether we should really spit it or not. It's just that sometimes the weather may be to cloudy outside, so it might be better to offer some companion, instead of plunging that person we love to the unknown. So here is what I know. There's no such thing as "being straight." So whoever came up with such a contrivance was wrong. Even after we ask for it, there's always a truth to hide, a friend to protect, a secret to keep. What's it with us humans that we believe us steady enough to handle such thing, yet we become fretful beings with the everything that follows. We ignore those leers of those that love us and insist. We insist until we know the painful truth.I believe sometimes it's better to be naïve than to be wise. Because even after all the years of studying, all the years of friendship, all the years of toiling, and all those years of freelance, we're still breakable on the inside, fragile never goes away. No wonder kids are the only ones who handle it. "Be straight," they're unaware of the things that may hide beneath it."Be straight," it is such a utopia. That's right, it is a utopian phrase. Just like communism, or the modernist image of Latin America, it is just a distant dream or fantasy we are not ready to fulfill. You see, even when we try to be straight, we adapt the truth to our own convenience, keeping what must be kept, and telling what does not hurt. But still, it is a phrase we can all relate to. The cheating husband, the betraying friend, the protecting mother, the naive son, the wise mentor, or the curious student, the infamous rock star, or the loyal fan, truth is, they all are related to it, just like you and me. And once we use it for the first time, we are addicted to it, and all innocence is gone. It becomes time to face the things we did not know, or maybe just didn't want to. Yet we are so stupid we will not admit how broken we are by its honesty, how hurt we my get with it. So it becomes a cycle, a cycle of truths and lies that goes on and on, just with that simple phrase working as the catalyst, "Be straight."