Honesty in a Dis-honest World

Honesty in a Dis-honest World:

Added Value or Archaic Tradition

I am old school, I admit it. Perhaps the fact that “honesty is the best policy” was drummed into my brain, much like the Lord’s Prayer along with the Pledge of Allegiance, has something to do with my propensity to be a truth teller. But in today’s world of Dog eat Dog and Me, Me, ME!! I do not see honesty as something that is valued anymore.

Don’t get me wrong, as a child, I was mischievous and a yarn spinner with the best of them. (For those that are too young to know what that means, I was a gifted storyteller) Perhaps that is where my skill at becoming a writer came from. I stole, like most kids do, small items like candy from the five and dime (again, a reference that surely ages me more than I would like), erasers from school, and so on. And I always got caught. I guess being a cat burglar was never in my future.

The most profound event that drilled this concept into my brain was following an incident of my love for Butterfinger candy bars got exposed. I had stolen a hand full of them from the local grocery store and hid them in my dressing table at home. At some point, the empty wrappers were found, and the spotlight was on me. After torturous interrogation and tearful confessions, my punishment was trifold.

1. I was grounded.

2. I would have to pay for the candy bars out of my allowance for chores, which, coincidentally, just increased in amount vs. compensation.

3. I had to apologize to the store manager and all of its employees and customers, in person. (Perhaps this is where my fear of public speaking came from, but alas, that is a story for another time)

So, there I was, 10 years old, a criminal. I was drug to the scene of the crime, where I was made to stand in the front of the grocery store and apologize. The manager was called over the loudspeaker. All cashiers and customers stopped what they were doing, to listen to the little miscreant confess her crime. When it was over, I handed all the empty wrappers over to the cashier and paid for all that I had taken.

I learned some unbelievably valuable lessons during that whole fiasco. Consequences are a natural occurrence for any action, be it bad or good. Remember that as you walk through life.

Taking responsibility for your actions is hard, but at the end of the day, you can still look at yourself in the mirror and respect who is looking back at you.

The truth, I have come to find out, is a much more powerful weapon than a lie could ever be. Don’t believe me? Try and tell a lie, that eventually gets discovered and the TRUTH comes out. What did it cost you? Yes, telling the truth may have cost you immensely up front. But the TRUTH, discovered after a lie, will always cost you more. Nothing more valuable than your integrity, your word. Because in the end folks, that is all you really have. If your word is worth nothing, then neither is your Name, both are now mud.

Maybe that is why the world is the way it is now…

We have not taught the lessons, the hard ones, the ones that make you feel ashamed because you know you were wrong for what you did. We have forgotten to hold, not only each other accountable, but more importantly, ourselves accountable, for our actions.

We have forgotten or perhaps society no longer cares that there are consequences for actions. Perhaps, we have not forgotten, but the world seems to reward the liar and punish the honest. We have lost sight of our values, our morals, our integrity.

Perhaps, if a few more of us were stood in front of our town-folk to confess our sins and to atone for them, we would remember the value of the truth.

Who couldn't use a Jimmy Cricket to their Pinocchio tendencies now and again? Maybe Walt Disney was on to something, or have we outgrown the need for a little moral navigation in the form of fairytales?

Something to ponder…