Honesty vs. Vulnerability

These two words have been floating around my head all day. Last night I was talking to someone I care about a great deal, and we ended up in a conversation about honesty and vulnerability and how the two are different. This is the conclusion I reached;

Being honest, means telling the truth. When someone asks for your opinion, you share it truthfully. When someone asks for your advice, you simply tell them what you think. Honesty is easy. It doesn't ask much of you, but the simple truth.

Being vulnerable on the other hand is much harder. You can't just tell people the truth when they ask, you have to volunteer information, even when you don't want to. You have to open up completely and let people in. And the biggest difference is this, vulnerability is for the people we love. We can be vulnerable with them because we know they won't hurt us. They won't take advantage of our vulnerability. Because this is in it's purest form what love is all about. It is about letting go and letting in. Without vulnerability there can be no love, without love there can be no vulnerability.

Here is what the dictionary says;

honest |ˈänist|adjectivefree of deceit and untruthfulness; sincere: I haven't been totally honest with you.• morally correct or virtuous: I did the only right and honest thing.• [ attrib. ] fairly earned, esp. through hard work: struggling to make an honest living.• (of an action) blameless or well intentioned even if unsuccessful or misguided: he'd made an honest mistake.• [ attrib. ] simple, unpretentious, and unsophisticated: good honest food with no gimmicks.
vulnerable |ˈvəln(ə)rəbəl|adjectivesusceptible to physical or emotional attack or harm: we were in a vulnerable position |small fish are vulnerable to predators.