“Did you get the job?” my mom asked as soon as I got home from the interview. “No — I told them I was only here for the summer.” 

My search for a summer job this year was not very fruitful. Application after application, interview after interview, my biggest weakness was that I was too … honest.

“Well — why didn’t you lie? You’re too naïve.” And my mom was right — but I’ll never admit it to her. Because since when did I care about corporate interests? In an attempt to vent my feelings of frustrations to my friend (who is now 9,177 km away), she explained that “As someone who’s spent the past year recruiting and finding talent for companies, trust me when I tell you to lie.” 

Of course these lies would be mostly insignificant. I just needed to find a temporary job. It was in my best interest to lie, and I wouldn’t have been lying about any qualifications or anything, just about my availability. But I cannot lie for my life. 

As much as it is a virtue, honesty is also my biggest flaw. And you could argue that it isn’t honesty, but rather naïveté. And trust me, it’s spelled that way. I had to look it up for this article.

All of that was a long-winded way to lead up to the following question: Why is it seen as a bad thing to be naïve? In every single moment of weakness, I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. Like a shitty choose-your-own-adventure game, my two choices were to lie and get the job, or to be honest and not get the job. 

Never learning from my mistakes, I tell the truth time and time again. I’m probably the dumbest person alive – but what’s so wrong with wanting to be honest, hoping someone would appreciate it? I want to believe that everyone is inherently good, and that if I am genuine and honest in my everyday interactions, they’ll treat me the same. 

I choose to be naïve. I choose to believe in good, especially when the world is falling apart. Politicians are corrupt. Billionaires are destroying the world. And we’re going through the sixth mass extinction event! So, yeah, I’m dumb as FUCK. But I choose to be — because it’s the only way I know how to live. 

In the words of a sexy, mysterious parallel-universe Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan), “When I choose to see the good side of things, I’m not being naïve. It is strategic and necessary. It’s how I’ve learned to survive through everything.” 

For the first time in my life, I felt seen, which is yet another reason why “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (2022) is a top-tier movie. And for that same reason, I continue to write. Because I want you to know that I’m just the same as you. That I’ve been there, done that and I will still continue to do that.

So, if you find yourself questioning who you are; just know that wherever you are in life — as long as you’re trying to be the best you can be — you’ll be okay. I’m just like you: trying to figure out who I am and what my values are in this rapidly changing world. Because life’s way too difficult to make it through alone. And it’s way too difficult to make it through without kindness (and a little bit of delusion). 

Yeah, I might be naïve, but despite all the world has thrown at me, I choose not to be jaded. I choose kindness. And I will continue to choose it again and again.

Man Truong is a senior writing about his reflections on life. He makes sense of a world full of different beliefs and philosophies in his column, “Lessons Learned,” which runs every other Monday.