It seems to me that the ability to speak one’s mind is becoming more and more like some bad habit one might have instead of an asset.

Telling people what you really feel is not cool – it’s like having to scratch a part of your body that isn’t exactly in the public domain like a forearm or the top of your head.

If the itch is someplace considered private, you either have to suffer until to can relieve yourself of the burning out of plain sight or you run the risk of ridicule for doing what your body told you to do but no one else wanted to see you do.

The one thing that I have always loved about being me was that I felt like I could still give my honest, straightforward, and sometimes raw opinion when asked a question.

I thought that at the very least people would or could say of me that "he’s a real person".

I have come to realize recently that the bright burning light that is truth and honesty has become too harsh for many people in society.

As a people we used to take pride in the rawness of being "real" as we like to say.

That quality seems to fade with every homogenized shift we make from "our culture" to the mainstream.

We don’t really want to hear the truth. We want to hear what we want to hear.

This becomes more and more important as you get older, and more exposed to more and more people.

I have come to realize that part of the fear that people have of African Americans is that dealing with us means having to deal with truth.

For people not of color, dealing with us may mean dealing with a part of themselves they may not like. It may mean dealing with a legacy they may not like or ultimately it may mean dealing with a people entirely that they may not like.

The only thing raw, that people really like now in public is Sushi, which I hate by the way.

People in society tell themselves they want to hear what the real deal is and when they do, they get upset, or say the issue is being ‘sensationalized.’ They would much rather put their heads in the sand than deal with what is happening.

The election stalemate is a good example. People say they are either tired of it or they say they are not paying too much attention to, what I believe is one of the most important issues we have an opportunity to deal with right now. No they would really rather know about how the Knicks did, or catch the new Jay-Z cut on the radio, or what happened on ER.

People really don’t want to hear the truth about how we really feel about a number of subjects. Whether it’s race, religion, dating and our choices for dates, politics or whatever.

As the saying goes : "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil."

What is very important to note is that this could affect your life in big ways if you are not careful.

Am I suggesting that you lie when asked a question? Of course not.

What I am saying is that people who you don’t know and who don’t know you, will try to sum up who you are, in the brief contacts they have with you.

These may be individuals who can affect you grades, your job, and thus your life.

Check your thoughts at the gate, because not everyone who says they are your friends, are your friends.

I teach my kids to be honest but I also suggest they say what’s necessary to get the job done.

Not to give anyone outside of their inner circle, too much of a peek at who they are. Since in that group, there will be people who don’t have their best interest at heart.

Until people are willing to not only hear the truth in America and really deal with it, and listen to what people really have to say and contemplate it, this will remain an inherently hostile society.