Honesty

Honesty

I feel that honesty is a vital and necessary quality you should have. It is very important to be honest to yourself, parents, and friends, at school, at work and to others. Being honest brings success in both professional as well as personal life. Dishonesty brings sorrow and guilt. Even in all religion across the world, the importance of being honest preached. Benjamin Franklin wrote Poor Richard’s Almanack, which consisted of famous and wise saying “Honesty is the best policy”. This phrase signifies the importance of being a moral and truthful person.

There are six laws of Absolute honesty that are Law 1: Tell the Truth; Law 2: Tackle the Problem; Law 3: Disagree and Commit; Law 4: Welcome the Truth; Law 5: Reward the messenger and Law 6: Build a platform of integrity.  (Phillips)

Once, it so happened with me that an incident changed my life and I adopted this characteristic of being honest thereafter. During my school days, though I was a brilliant student, I used to neglect studies so that I get more time to play. In 6^th Standard, I copied a homework from my friend and this assignment was supposed to be graded. When the results came out, my friend got a “F” grade because the teacher thought she copied the homework from me. My friend, started crying and was disappointed with the result as she knew the fact. She got scolded by her parents and was asked not to mix up with me anymore from the day of occurrence of this incidence. I was deeply moved with the event and was feeling guilty. Just because of one small incident, I was about to lose a very close companion. I could now understand the meaning of relationship and value of having friends. I had sleepless nights thinking about the same and felt embarresed. Every glimpse of my friend made me feel guilty and recollect her crying face. 

Then, one day finally I decided that I would reveal the truth and revive my friendship which was at stake. I went up to my teacher and apologized for copying from her homework. Instead of shouting on me, the teacher was so happy listening to my honest confession, valued it and gave me a chance to redo the same homework. My parents and my friends appreciated my honesty. My parents rewarded me with chocolates for being honest as it required lots of courage and will power. They made me understand the value of being honest and pleasure associated with the good quality. I was praised in all other classes in my school. I was feeling great, proud and “on top of the world”. I got back my pal who was released from the charge of plagiarism. This time, I did the homework myself and submitted it. Both of us got good marks and revived our friendship. This incident taught me a prime lesson – how one small lie can hurt so many people and one truth can bring smiles around.

From that day, I started developing this quality. I started being honest to my friends, family and other people. Started valuing honest people. Why should I bring sorrow to others when I can bring happiness to them? Being honest and maintaining integrity brings divine blessings in our lives. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin tells us: “The rewards of integrity are immeasurable. One is the indescribable inner peace that comes from knowing we are doing what is right; another is an absence of the guilt and anxiety that accompany sin”. (Blog)

Honesty helps in building trust and gaining other people’s respect. You are considered an honest person if you do not lie, steal or deceive but speak out the truth and show integrity. Being honest brings a sense of satisfaction. Honesty is considered moral while dishonesty is considered immoral. Most people who are successful reach there because of their honesty and integrity. For example: Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Barrack Obama, Micheal Jackson, etc. They all followed the principle of honesty. W. Clement Stone says, “Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.”  (Pulsifer)