Honesty the Best Policy

“Honesty is such a lonely word…everyone is so untrue~” sung by Billie Joel. I love this song. I love this song so much that I even sang at Karaoke. Honesty is defined “A loving consistency in speech, thought, and action.” Honesty thus requires being consistent. Well, we all have lied one time or another at work or at home but whatever the reason was behind the lie there probably always was a consequence because we did not tell the truth. Let’s look closely at what truth telling is NOT.

• It’s not about telling everything we know. Not everyone needs to know our inner thoughts.
• It’s not about telling secrets for personal gain. And how long would that last anyways? Secret of success is sincerity.
• It’s not about jeopardizing justice.

“Even though we are inclined to distort the truth, deep within every one of us is an awareness of a difference between truth and falsehood. We lose respect for the person who chooses falsehood continuously, and likewise we respect the person who speaks honestly.” – Gary Chapman

We gain respect by being honest. So then how do we live with integrity and keep it up?

• We need to be open about our weaknesses. First instinct is to cover up and make excuses for our doing. But the cover up doesn’t last long anyways and rather than admitting if we put the blame on others or replace our faults with excuses there won’t be any respect for that action. Rather if we fess up our misdoing, then our openness will be viewed as human nature. Because everyone knows we all have weaknesses.
• We need to recognize the importance of truth.
• We need to be consistent in our behavior, words, tone, and meaning.
• We need to take risks for the sake of truth.
• We need to keep our promise. Promise is a promise no matter what the circumstance.

Though we may have broken a trust in our relationship there’s a way to rebuild trust.

• We can confess immediately
• We should accept responsibility
• We need to become trustworthy again.
• Making it right with the person whom you want to rebuild the trust again.

If everything happened by the book life would be simpler, but more than one occasion it’s not how life lays out to be. So on those moments when there are options lied before our eyes, we need to make the honest decision and stand true within ourselves and to others.

“When we lie, we forget that in the process of protecting ourselves, we are leaving our relationships open for destruction.” – Gary Chapman