Tact. Tact is frustrating. I'd much rather say what I think or keep my mouth shut. I have a friend in a situation I doubt will turn out for the best. Fine. Mouth shut. I think he'll survive the whole thing. But if he asks what I think about it, I'm going to have to be tactful. Crap.

It's not that I hate being tactful; it's not that I can't (yeah, yeah, I know--I generally don't bother. But I can). It's just that "tact" seems like "lying." especially in a case like this when you aren't just concealing the fact that you don't care, and you aren't just presenting your opinion in the nicest possible way. No, what I'm supposed to be doing here is concealing my opinion entirely and, in fact, making it seem like my opinion is the opposite of what it actually is. Tact.

Lying.

Update: Turns out that sometimes tact is unnecessary. Whew.