The Tax of Being Fine

Every time you say 'I'm fine,' a small amount of you is paid. It is a tax with no receipt and no end. Over time, the fineness costs more than the truth would have. You did not invent the tax; it is what passes for politeness in most rooms. But you can choose, sometimes, to pay something else instead — a sentence with one true word in it, told to one person who can hear it. The tax does not go away. The portion you keep grows.