Honesty

OK, I’m back and ready for action. Today I would like to comment on a simple virtue that I fear we overlook a little too often. Honesty. Even the Ten Commandments, God’s top ten, include the exhortation, “Do not bear false witness.” That’s lying, by the way, and we all do. Little white lies, excuses for being late etc., fudge just a little bit on the income taxes. It’s hard to even get through a day without some kind of little lie escaping from our lips. Nonetheless, we must endeavor to do so because honesty is a foundational virtue, being the cornerstone of trust and character. So let our words be truthful and they will be all the more meaningful because others will learn to rely upon them. It’s a tired old adage, but honest really is the best policy.

Honesty
Every time we write or speak
We make a very simple choice
We can tell the truth or stretch it some
With pencil, pen or voice
Sometimes it seems it wouldn’t hurt
To take some liberty
With what we know to be the truth
So we choose dishonesty
Even though we know deception
Soon becomes a bitter friend
Which can never stand the test of time
Truth always triumphs in the end
For the seeds we sow in darkness
Though we hide them underground
Seem to sprout and surface somehow
Until, at last, they’re found
Our lies come back to haunt us
When what seems unknown is known
We should consider when we choose our words
That we shall reap what we have sown
So when lying seems the easy route
We are wise if we can see
That in the end the better choice
Is always honesty
By Frank Carpenter ©