Honesty Really Is The Best Policy

10 Favorite Quotes on Honesty

#10   An honest man's the noblest work of God. ~ ALEXANDER POPE

#9     Those who think it is permissible to tell white lies soon grow color-blind. ~ AUSTIN O'MALLEY
#8     A truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent. ~ WILLIAM BLAKE
#7     Honest people don't hide their deeds. ~ EMILY BRONTE
#6     Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth. ~ MAHATMA GANDHI
#5     No legacy is so rich as honesty. ~ WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
#4     Honesty is for the most part less profitable than dishonesty. ~ PLATO
#3     Honesty pays, but it doesn't seem to pay enough to suit some people. ~ KIN HUBBARD
#2     Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom. ~ THOMAS JEFFERSON
#1     Honesty is the best policy. ~ BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

To start, let’s break down some basic truths about honesty and how it fits into our current lives.  In modern world, honesty has lost its meaning. But still some people appreciate honesty. All religions lay down great stress on honesty.

An honest person is always brave. They are not afraid of anybody. Sometimes, they have to face many problems also. They are truthful and are liked by everybody. On the other hand, liars, greedy and cunning people earn more money but they are not liked by people.  Honesty should be maintained everywhere, at home, in school, and among friend.

Honesty also gives rise to spiritual strength. So one takes up any challenge with confidence. On the other hand, a dishonest person can never be sure of anything.

They are always busy in plotting. So they never get peace. An honest person is rewarded with success. Even after their death, people remember them. They get love and respect from others.

The life of Mahatma Gandhi is an example. Since his childhood, he tried to remain honest and truthful.  Once he went to a restaurant with his friend and took some non-vegetarian food, which was forbidden at home. He repented afterwards and honestly accepted his mistake in a letter addressed to his father.  Gandhi was expecting a severe punishment as his father was very strict but his father broke into tears as his son’s honesty touched his heart. In his later life, Gandhi practiced honesty as a habit.

Dishonesty, no doubt gives benefits sometimes but those benefits are temporary and short lived.  It kills our soul and snatches away our peace of mind. It is not an easy job to remain honest in this world.  One needs enough courage and sacrifice to be honest. But even then honesty has its own value and comes out victorious in the long run.

I try to stress this to my children.  When all is said and done, no matter how much you have or how successful you are, your most prized position is your word.  If you are known as someone who can be taken at their word, that is a commodity that is more valuable than gold.  And once lost it’s the most difficult thing to get back.  And what you don’t realize until it’s too late is that eventually you can reach a point where you can fight and fight to regain the ability for people to take you at your word but that valuable treasure will never be quite the same. 

I spent many many years under the notion that the worst thing that could possibly happen in my life was to have people find out that my life isn’t smooth and perfect.  My motto was to put up a good front and keep up appearances at all costs because what was most important is “what will the neighbors think?”  There are so many painful things that I went though alone or hid from loved ones because to maintain the appearance of a problem free existence was my number one goal.  And living that kind of life is exhausting and painful.  You aren’t honest with the people in your life but much worse is that you are not honest with yourself. 

Then one day something miraculous happened.  I got a job as an office manager at a church.  I was told that each week we have staff meetings.  No problem, right?  So I sit down at my first meeting and I was told that each week one person shares a devotion and then another person says a prayer and then we discuss what the devotion meant to us.  My stomach literally hit the floor.  “What kind of devotion?”, I asked while trying not to show the panic attack that I could feel rising in my chest.  I was told that we just share stories about our daily lives and struggles and joys and sorrows.  We were to share our thoughts and things that inspire us and make us think.  So I’m sitting there thinking that for 39 years I had spent the majority of my life pretending that I didn’t have problems or if I did I went to great lengths to hide them.  That’s when I realized that God really does have a twisted sense of humor.  My fellow staff members were so respectful and kind to me.  I admitted to them that the thought of praying out loud terrified me.  No problem I was told.  Write down a prayer and read it if you’d like and if that makes you comfortable.  Next came the devoting part.   What the hell was I going to talk about when my every instinct was that you don’t air your problems out to other people?  Well my time came and I was up on the firing line for my first devotion.  Now, this isn’t a phrase that generally use at work but it’s the only thing that because describes what I did.  I went “balls to the wall’ and picked a very emotional and painful story to share.  It was my version of just ripping the bandaid off of that fear of people finding out my truth and that I don’t have a “normal” life.  And God bless my dear friends at work (friends is not a good enough term for them now.  Now they are family.) because they were so affirming and lifted me up for the huge step I took.  It’s the first time in my life that I ever felt safe sharing a story like that.  We now make jokes about my angst ridden journey into the world of living an open and real life.  Now I devote away and pray out loud with the best of them! 

The second reason that this job was a blessing is that I got to see that EVERY family has heartache, scandal, terror, fear, joy, devastation, betrayal, love, loss, and pretty much every other human emotion that you could think to name.  What?  You mean other families have problems too?  Other people screw up and wreck their lives and pick up the pieces, heal and move on?  It’s okay to make mistakes and not have to carry them on your back for the rest of your life?  Wow, it was an awakening and a revelation of epic proportions. 

So this leads me back to honesty.  Now, living and honest life doesn’t not mean that you have to be an open book at all times.  You have the right to decide healthy boundaries and decide what parts of your life that you do or don’t share.  A simple, “I don’t want to discuss that,” beats coming up with a story just to smooth things over and get people off your back.  And it’s a much less exhausting way to live.  Peace of mind has no price tag on it.  When you are at peace with yourself, live your life without trying to maintain that false perfect life perception, and know that it’s okay to “just say no” to sharing certain things; then life gets real simple and real easy almost immediately.  

This is the legacy that I want to leave for my children.  I want them to understand how valuable “your word” is in this world.  I want them to know that we are all imperfect and make mistakes.  But it’s better to live a real life, warts and all, than to present yourself as something that you aren’t.  The most important person for you to be honest with is yourself.  And I want them to know that they are going to make mistakes.  LOTS of them.  We all did and will continue to.  But when you do just stare it down head on and deal with it with truth, honesty, and integrity. 

Now, once we get the honesty and integrity part down flat we will work on another key word, Diplomacy.  :)  When you can embrace honesty and weave it into diplomacy, you have pure gold on your hands.