What Makes One Honest?

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Honesty is a very abstract word. It is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “adherence to the facts; refusal to lie, steal or deceive in any way.” But, what ‘honesty’ exactly means? Some would say that honesty means not telling lies, not committing crimes or living a life according to what law says. To be honest, it is a manifestation of the truth, and the facts behind are just a consequence of being honest. In a simple way, honesty is not only to tell the truth, but also to live the truth.

Honesty is based on the truth, and the most general sign of this is not telling lies. Even the most simple and “inoffensive” lie could become problematic. For instance, my friend Tania was preparing a surprise party to her boyfriend, so she asked her friend Lily some borrowed money. One of those days she was thinking out loud that she had to pay 500 pesos, but she forgot that her boyfriend was there. When she realized that he was listening, she nervously finished her sentence saying that the money was for her mom. If he had asked her mom about the money, he would probably had doubt about Tania. That would probably caused him to start wondering why she would had lied about that money; consequently, they might have had some trust problems and they might had broken up. On the other hand, saying half-truths is not being honest either. It is not the same if a 17 year old girl says “mom, I am in Ana’s house”, than saying “mom, I am in the house that Ana has in Las Vegas”. Saying the first one will probably make the girl’s mom to freak out when she discovers that her immature and unconscious daughter is not where she told her. As a result, when the daughter comes back, her mom will not trust her anymore. The key of trust is honesty, and hones...

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...admit it. By doing this you can lose the love of your life only because you did not dare to recognize your own feelings. Honesty includes not only being honest to other people, but also to ourselves, by not denying who we are and what we feel and believe.

Honesty can be perceived from different outlooks; it can be seen for the lies you say, for the actions you make and for the way you behave. Honesty is more than just saying the truth, is living a way of life that tends to go for what is good and correct; is doing what is right and just. If honesty did not exist, relationships between friends, family and loving couples would be full of distrust and uncertainty. Honesty is what keeps people together, is what makes them trust in each other. Furthermore, honesty is the absolute expression of truthfulness in our lives, and what makes this world to have faith on itself.

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