We shouldn’t need to be polite to the people closest to us.

Niceties are primarily meant for strangers, or people with whom we’re trying to build a relationship. We don’t know each other well enough to say exactly what’s on our mind, so we coat our message in excessive politeness to keep from coming across the wrong way.

Once we’ve built a strong relationship with someone, these precautions aren’t necessary. Our closest friends and family members should know us well enough to eliminate the need to be overly careful about everything we say.

But there’s a thin line here.

There’s a difference between speaking truth and being outright rude. Without even realizing it, we can look back and see lazy comments that could easily be mistaken as overly curt.

So yes, the primary role of conversational politeness is gone when we’re talking with those close to us. But that doesn’t mean we’re free to talk without thinking.

-Brandon