Honesty is the cornerstone of character. The honest man or woman seeks not merely to avoid criminal or illegal acts, but to be scrupulously fair, upright, fearless in both action and expression. Honesty pays dividends both in dollars and in peace of mind. As shown in the quote by B C Forbes, honesty is the value that underpins society. Not only is honesty necessary to build any kind of meaningful relationship, but it is also required in order to allow the passage of everyday life. Without honesty there would be nothing of society as we know it. There would be no order, no shared common goals, no motivation to improve. Honesty should not be appreciated in others; it should be expected. A person who is dishonest is not only insulting those around them, but betraying themselves, allowing them to excuse behaviours and actions that have no benefit to them or others.
The first step of moving forwards is to look backwards, to be honest with ourselves to decide what we must do to progress. If we are constantly lying to ourselves, failing to hold ourselves accountable, what motivation is there to grow as a person, to improve and do better? We must also be honest with ourselves in order to recognise our successes. The outcome of something may not be what we want, or feel like we deserve, yet by being honest we can realise that in fact, these experiences have provided valuable learning experiences, opportunities that we did not expect, and possibly even a sense of pride by recognising what we have achieved does not make something a failure.
There can be times when it seems that honesty may cost us, admitting to a mistake we have made, or refusing an offer that may not be honest, but is always beneficial. Newscaster Walter Cronkite was known as the most trusted man in America, the face of CBS News for 18 years. He had numerous examples of offers to promote products and companies live on air, and yet he always refused, forsaking his own personal gain. When a land developer offered him a sizeable piece of land for free, not for him to promote them on air, only to be able to say that Walter owned land there, he refused. He knew he did not want to promote this company, as he would have been forced to be dishonest, misleading millions of viewers for his own personal gain. His honesty came at a personal cost too. He made enemies of friends, companies, politicians and even the CIA, by refusing to say what they thought was best, or allowing government intervention in the news, and instead telling the American public all he knew about the story he was breaking, be it the death of JFK or the moon landings. He covered events that seemed incomprehensible to the public at the time, but through his continued honesty he promoted the core values of humanity, allowing the public to judge and decide what they thought, safe in the knowledge he had told them all he could, with no agenda or malevolence.
This story demonstrates not only the value of honesty to us, but also to those around us. Is it reasonable to expect the truth from those who we ourselves are dishonest with? How can we expect to prosper without the combined honesty of us all. Honesty may seem costly in the moment, sometimes it causes us to be punished or cast out, yet in the long term honest is the very best thing we can be. A reputation for honesty is the best anyone could ask for, allowing us to foster connections and opportunities that we can only achieve through honesty. A lie may save you today, but what about when we need someone to believe the truth, what will we do when others’ backs are turned to us, for they know we are not honest, with ourselves or them.
Finlay Lomas-Clarke
Senior Prefect