Honesty Tells No Lies

[ORene 0]

Honesty is a very abstract word. It is defined by the Merriam-Webster online dictionary as “adherence to the facts; refusal to lie, steal or deceive in any way.” But, what ‘honesty’ exactly means? Some would say that honesty means not telling lies, not committing crimes or being coherent with your actions and your values. I agree with all of them. Honesty is a manifestation of the truth, and the facts behind are just a consequence of being honest. In a simple sentence, honesty is not only telling the truth, but also living the truth.Honesty is based on the truth, and the most general sign of this is not telling lies. Even the most simple and “inoffensive” lie could become problematic. For instance, my friend Tania was preparing a surprise party to her boyfriend, so she asked her friend Lily some borrowed money. One of those days she was thinking out loud that she had to pay $500 dollars, but she forgot that her boyfriend was there. When she realized that he was listening, she nervously finished her sentence saying that the money was for her mom. If he had asked her mom about the money, he would probably had doubt about Tania. That would probably caused him to start wondering why she would had lied about that money; consequently, they might have had some trust problems and they might had broken up. On the other hand, saying half-truths is not being honest either. It is not the same if a 17 year old girl says “mom, I am in Ana’s house”, than saying “mom, I am in the house that Ana has in Las Vegas”. Saying the first one will probably make the girl’s mom to freak out when she discovers that her immature and unconscious daughter is not where she told her. As a result, when the daughter comes back, her mom will not trust her anymore. The key of trust is honesty, and honest people always watch that their tongue speaks only truth.But honesty implies much more than just not lying; it is also living according to the law and the good values and principles. That includes not stealing, cheating, corrupting or doing any dishonorable practice. An example of this kind of dishonesty is when a student cheats on an exam. By simply copying answers from a schoolmate’s exam the student is practicing dishonesty. Dishonesty also appears in something really simple that can be seen in the urban buses in Culiacan. Most of the drivers have a young boy by their side. That boy stays in the bus and goes everywhere for free, he just have to skip the detector that counts how many people get in the bus. Furthermore, when a lot of people are getting in, the boy sometimes covers the detector with his hand so the driver can get more money without being noticed by their supervisors. That kind of actions are not written in any official document as illegal proceedings, but it is known for all people that they are unethical. Honesty implies the fact of not doing those immoral actions and doing the right thing, even if it is more convenient to do the opposite.Even though the last arguments are very important, the most important expression of honesty is to practice this value each person to their inside. People that deny themselves are just getting in bigger problems, only because of their lack of honesty. For example, in the movie “School Ties”, David Greene is a Jewish man studying in a Protestant school in the fifties. When he got in that school he oppressed his own beliefs so his friends would not notice he was a Jewish. At the beginning he gained the respect and popularity of his school mates. Unfortunately, when they discovered his lie they felt betrayed for his deception and his denial of himself. Since then, not only he became discriminated for his religion, but also he lost his friends’ trust, respect and regard. The last example shows how can you lie to yourself affecting others, but you can also lie to yourself affecting only you. That is, for example, when you are in love with someone but you don’t admit it. By doing this you can lose the love of your life only because you did not dare to recognize your own feelings. Honesty includes not only being honest to other people, but also to ourselves, by not denying who we are and what we feel and believe.Honesty can be perceived from different outlooks; it can be seen for the lies you say, for the actions you make and for the way you behave. Honesty is more than just saying the truth, is living a way of life that tends to go for what is good and correct; is doing what is right and just. If honesty did not exist, relationships between friends, family and loving couples would be full of distrust and uncertainty. Honesty is what keeps people together, is what makes them trust in each other. Furthermore, honesty is the absolute expression of truthfulness in our lives, and what makes this world to have faith on itself.What do you think? Do you agree? I'd like to hear your opinion

Edited December 5, 2009 by ORene (see edit history)

[contactskn 2]

Dear friend you are very correct when you say that honesty is the best policy but being honest is really very very difficult. Now a days the world is full of lies, curruption, dishonesty etc. So in such situations being honest is very difficult. Here I would like to let you know about an incident and thats as follows - I was sellected for a government job as an Village Officer and my father said as its very difficult to get a government job and you have got it so join it and don't forget to be honest with your job and working. I joined the job and wanted to work in an honest manner without taking any bribe etc from the villagers for the service provided to them but my officials were not allowed me to do so. As they forced me to take bribe and said that you have to do this in the way we order and share it with us also. But it was not possible for me to do so, and I finally decided to quit the job and joined the IT field.

[anwiii 17]

honesty is the best policy for truth. that's it in a nutshell in my opinion. when being honest, you create a reality that is based on truth. when dishonest....even slightly, it hides the truth and even creates a domino effect on the realitiies created by the lies....and i say lies because once you tell one, more lies occur from the domino effect.so one has to make the choice to live by truth.....or lies.....are lies good? what about telling a child that there is a santa claus? or an easter bunny? what about lies based on imagination? are they good or bad? is it how we present the lies? what are the rules if lies are good?i hate liars more than anything in this world because i would rather know the truth....but what about small children who aren't confronted yet with everything lies hold? is it ok to make them believe there is a santa clause when there is no such person except what we believe in our own hearts? as a symbol for what is good and magical?sometimes the truth hurts. is it ok to lie about it to prevent the hurt?is any one person in this world deserving of the full truth?what is truth? does anyone really know the whole truth to everything to tell no lies?when we understand that we don't know it all to state the truth, all we have is our own personal belief that guides us and others who are willing to be guided by us.

[mahesh2k 0]

Honesty is only possible if we are true to our-self. But because of cognitive dissonance &self serving bias, we hardly stay honest with ourselves. We always try to put ourselves in comfortable position and then avoid the burden of stress when we talk or do things. This way we avoid honesty and responsibility. So truth or being true to ourselves becomes subjective. Like some people say, when we become true to ourselves we then honesty comes naturally in our action. Else there is no way we'll be honest to ourselves or to others. If you want to read on this,try reading books on cognitive dissonance,cognitive bias. You'll find a lot of things where we need to improve.

[ORene 0]

I remember when I figured out there was no Santa Claus, indeed it hurt. However if I had knew there was no Santa Claus right from the beginning it wouldn't have hurt. Honesty from the beginning would have been better. Illusions are good and lies can lead to illusions but so can truths. An illusion based on lies will ultimately fail and hurt you when it does. However an illusion based on a truth will ultimately succeed and become a reality which will grant the person happiness. I favor the ultimate truth even if its a bad thing to say. Do you hate your parents for lying to you about Santa Claus? Of course not!Do you hate them for telling you the truth about santa? Of course not!Would you hate them if they didn't tell you the truth and your friends made fun of you for still believing in santa claus at an older age?

[mahesh2k 0]

If that is the case then i think there are many places where people resort to lie. Like internet marketing and many promotion things. They try to sell what is actually not worth it. for example, service which is not worth what is labeled it. So in such case we call it survival and life, in such case we resort self serving bias to make ourselves comfortable. It won't help in long run and also not helping in sleeping relax at night but it does earn money,women and house for some people. So they think it is not wrong. If anyone is happy with lies then i think we have no reason to wake them up with what they are doing.

[anwiii 17]

i agree with what you said fully. at the same time however, that hurt you felt can still be replaced by a magical spirit in what santa claus stands for....unless you just think christmas and presents and anticipation should be discredited along with the belief that states you can give unconditionally....

i thought your posts were all deep thoughts...why all of a sudden you want to reply with surfacy thoughts?

I remember when I figured out there was no Santa Claus, indeed it hurt. However if I had knew there was no Santa Claus right from the beginning it wouldn't have hurt. Honesty from the beginning would have been better. Illusions are good and lies can lead to illusions but so can truths. An illusion based on lies will ultimately fail and hurt you when it does. However an illusion based on a truth will ultimately succeed and become a reality which will grant the person happiness. I favor the ultimate truth even if its a bad thing to say.
Do you hate your parents for lying to you about Santa Claus? Of course not!
Do you hate them for telling you the truth about santa? Of course not!
Would you hate them if they didn't tell you the truth and your friends made fun of you for still believing in santa claus at an older age?

[ORene 0]

i thought your posts were all deep thoughts...why all of a sudden you want to reply with surfacy thoughts?

because it is no fun if you agree with everything I say

I think you misunderstood it, Christmas and Santa Claus should never be about the presents.