Test your words: True, Kind and Necessary?

Recently a fine couple came to our house for dinner.  They were Catholic by religion and Spanish by descent.  Although it was mostly the guy who was doing the talking, the wife also got some room to express herself in the end.  She is a teacher and she told us about this very interesting principle which she teaches her kids.

True, Kind, and Necessary.

Apparently, it comes from some Christian code or principle.  Essentially, it means that before you speak anything, please run it by a small test:

• Is It True?

• Is what you are saying a “Kind” thing to say?

• If its True, Kind, then is it even Necessary in the context and the time you are saying it?

Given we take the meaning of something being “True” as what you think is a fact, then it is a very good principle to keep in mind to obviate any issues in any of the relationship.  Those who say that “Honesty is the best policy” usually had wretched relationships with everyone who mattered.  Ask Gandhi.  He and his sons hardly had any relationship worthy of a Kind man that the world called Gandhi as.

For most of us, what we say doesn’t even pass the first test.  Even going past that point is a big deal.  Once we are past that, then usually, the point of necessity is always missed.  Many say things just because they think its the “Truth” without thinking if its something necessary to convey.  Many a life could have been saved had this simple test been applied by people.

What do you think of these tests?