Practice Honesty, Integrity, and Sincerity

Step 19:

 Sometimes the brightness of truth does not enlighten but blinds the evil.

 Honesty means to be genuine and real versus fake and fictitious. Be labeled or build a reputation of being trustworthy. If there is one thing that builds any kind of relationship at home, at work, or socially, it is integrity. Not keeping commitments amounts to dishonest behavior. Honesty inspires openness, reliability, and frankness. It shows respect for one's self and others. Honesty is in being, not in appearing to be. Lies may have speed but truth has endurance. Integrity is not found in company brochures or titles but in a person's character. Is it worth compromising one's integrity and taking shortcuts to win? A person may win a trophy but knowing the truth, can never be a happy person. More important than winning a trophy is being a good human being.

 A POUND OF BUTTER

•  There was a farmer who sold a pound of butter to the baker. One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting a pound and he found that he was not. This angered him and he took the farmer to court. The judge asked the farmer if he was using any measure. The farmer replied, amour Honor, I am primitive. I don't have a proper measure, but I do have a scale." The judge asked, "Then how do you weigh the butter?" The farmer replied "Your Honor, long before the baker started buying butter from me, I have been buying a pound loaf of bread from him. Every day when the baker brings the bread, I put it on the scale and give him the same weight in butter. If anyone is to be blamed, it is the baker." What is the moral of the story? We get back in life what we give to others.

 Whenever you take an action, ask yourself this question: Am I giving fair value for the wages or money I hope to make?

Honesty and dishonesty become a habit. Some people practice dishonesty and can lie with a straight face. Others lie so much that they don't even know what the truth is anymore. But who are they deceiving? Themselves--- more than anyone else. Honesty can be put across gently. Some people take pride in being brutally honest. It seems they are getting a bigger kick out of the brutality than the honesty. Choice of words and tact are important.

 Truth May Not Always Be What You Want to Hear 

One can be truthful without being cruel but that may not always be the case. The most important responsibility of an honest friend is to be truthful. Some people, in order to avoid confronting painful truths, select friends who tell them what they want to hear. They kid themselves despite the fact that deep down they know they are not being truthful. Honest criticism can be painful. If you have many acquaintances and few friends, it is time to step back and explore the depth of your relationships. A lack of honesty is sometimes labeled as tact, public relations or politics. But is it really so? The problem with lying is that one has to remember one's lies.

 Honesty requires firmness and commitment. How many times have we all been guilty of:

•  little white lies?
•  flattery?
•  omitting facts or giving half-truths?
•  telling the greatest lies by remaining silent?

 Make yourself an honest man and then you may be sure there is one rascal less in the world. --Thomas Carlyle

 Credibility 

• We all know the story of the shepherd boy who cried wolf. The boy decided to have some fun at the expense of the villagers. He shouted, "Help, help, the wolf is here." The villagers heard him and came to his rescue. But when they got there, they saw no wolf and the boy laughed at them. They went away. The next day, the boy played the same trick and the same thing happened. Then one day, while the boy was taking care of his sheep he actually saw a wolf and shouted for help. The people in the village heard him but this time nobody came to his rescue. They thought it was another trick and didn't trust him anymore. He lost his sheep to the wolf. What is the moral of the story?

 The moral of the story is

•  When people tell lies, they lose credibility.
•  Once they have lost credibility, even when they tell the truth, no one believes them.

The Quality of a Good Character is Honesty

 Truth can be misrepresented in two ways: 

1. Incomplete facts or information

 2. Exaggeration

 BEWARE OF HALF-TRUTHS OR MISREPRESENTATION OF TRUTHS

•  There was a sailor who worked on the same boat for three years. One night he got drunk. This was the first time it ever happened. The captain recorded it in the log, "The sailor was drunk tonight." The sailor read it, and he knew this comment would affect his career, so he went to the captain, apologized and asked the captain to add that it only happened once in three years which was the complete truth. The captain refused and said, "What I have written in the log is the truth." The next day it was the sailor's turn to fill in the log. He wrote, "The captain was sober tonight." The captain read the comment and asked the sailor to change or add to it explaining the complete truth because this implied that the captain was drunk every other night. The sailor told the captain that what he had written in the log was the truth. Both statements were true but they conveyed misleading messages;

 Exaggeration

 Exaggeration does two things:

 1. It weakens a person's case and makes him lose credibility.

 2. It is like an addiction. It becomes a habit. Some people can't tell the truth without exaggerating.

 Be Sincere

 Sincerity is a matter of intent and hard to prove. We can achieve our goals by having a sincere desire to help others.

 Stay Away from Pretense

 Asking a friend in trouble, "Is there anything I can do for you," is really annoying. It is more of an eyewash and pretense. If you really want to help, think of something appropriate to be done and then do it. Many people put on the cloak of sincerity more out of selfishness than substance, hoping that some day they could claim the right to receive help. Stay away from meaningless and phony pleasantries. Caution--Sincerity is no measure of good judgment. Someone could be sincere, yet wrong.

 ACTIONS; SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS

 WHICH LOVED BEST?

 "I love you, Mother," said little John;

 Then, forgetting his work, his cap went on,

 And he was off to the garden swing,

 And left her the water and wood to bring.

 "I love you, Mother," said rosy Nell-

"I love you better than tongue can tell";

 Then she teased and pouted full half the day, 

Till her mother rejoiced when she went to play.

 "I love you, Mother," said little Fan;

 "Today I'll help you all I can;

 How glad I am that school doesn't keep!"

 So she rocked the babe till it fell asleep.

 Then, stepping softly, she fetched the broom, 

And swept the floor and tidied the room;

 Busy and happy all day was she,

 Helpful and happy as child could be.

 "I love you, Mother," again they said,

 Three little children going to bed;

How do you think that mother guessed 

Which of them really loved her best?

                                                              --Joy Allison*

 Maintain Integrity 

Ancient wisdom says, "Anything that is bought or sold has no value unless it contains the secret, priceless ingredient-that, what cannot be traded." What is it? The secret, priceless ingredient of every product is the credibility, the honor and integrity of the one who makes it. It is not so secret but it is priceless.

 Here is Another Side to Integrity--Questionable 

Three executives were fighting over who would pay the bill for lunch. One said, "I will pay, I can get a tax deduction." The other said, "Let me have it, I will get reimbursement from my company." The third said, "Let me pay, because I am filing for bankruptcy next week."