Honesty - Is it just telling the truth? Is it not a refusal to lie, steal or deceive in any way? If you plant honesty, you will reap trust and that is the foundation for any relationship!

 Being honest - is it not a fundamental quality of every individual, what do you say?

That’s why we are educating our children, to be honest in any situation. We have several stories, sharing which, we have been trying to inculcate honesty in our children.

But, in the current generation, we could see some changes. The students doing malpractices in the examinations has become very common now. The worst thing is students attending the online interview are also involved in malpractice. Is it not dishonesty?

Recently, I came to know that one reputed and top-ranking IT company has implemented a rule that if any student is involved in any kind of malpractice, he will not be recruited by the company not only that time, during his entire lifetime he can not enter any of their branches in the entire world. 

Honesty should be ensured,it should be an inbuilt feature with every one of us, right?

Husband telling lies to the wife, wife hiding certain things from the husband, chastity itself becomes a question mark, right?.  

My friend, Uma, was questioning this morning as to when people will consider women as just human beings, not seeing them as women. In any workplace, when are they going to see them as coworkers, not as women, and indulge in sexual misbehavior? We could see many cases against well-educated, high-profile gentlemen(!) working in high positions for sexual harassment against women all over the country, from down south to the north, from the East to the West! Not cheating women, not misusing them is also a part of being honest, isn’t it?

A lie is a lie, what is that called a white lie? Telling a lie and substantiating it by saying just not to hurt you only I lied. My friend Keerthi is mentally disturbed by the way her husband lies to her, starting from small things (so-called white lies) to something big he is trying to hide from her. 

One of my friends shared that his son is very adamant and cheats on him frequently. For instance, he had gone on a holiday with friends saying it was a working day. The father thought that he had gone to college, but he had gone with his friends by bike, and got into an accident. Now, he has been admitted to a hospital for plastic surgery. 

My colleague shared her friend’s difficulty in handling her son who is studying Engineering in the first year. He used to talk back to his father, telling lies, and hiding certain things, and one day he raised his hands towards his father. The father felt insulted and he lives separately leaving the family. Many parents are having similar complaints against their children. 

We say we teach honesty to our children, we advise them whenever they are about to slip from honesty. Particularly we, in India, take pride in saying we are culturally strong, we teach our children all the values, and we live a value-based life. 

It is painful to witness all these dishonest actions, a husband not being truthful to his wife, a wife deceiving her husband, children being mendacious to their parents, the colleagues in the workplace behaving unscrupulously, in business both in manufacturing and service sectors including the medical field, I need not tell more on this. The list will go endless!

We all know we should be honest in our thoughts, speech and in actions. I just wanted to highlight that honesty is inclusive of all, starting from not thinking to deceive others, not speaking ill about others and not doing all these unethical things. 

Thiruvalluvar has said it is dangerous even if we have the thought of deceiving others!

If you plant honesty, you will reap trust and that is the foundation for any relationship.
We have grown up listening to many moral stories stating the importance of being Honest. Recently, I read a simple story in the same lines and sharing that with you, just for your thoughts...
An emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it was time to choose his successor.  Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his children, he decided to do something different.  He called young people in the kingdom together one day.
He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next emperor.  I have decided to choose one of you."
The children were shocked, but the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today - one very special seed.  I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next emperor."
One boy, named Ling, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed.  He went home and excitedly told his mother the story.  She helped him get a pot and planted soil, and he planted the seed and watered it, carefully.  Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown.
After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.  Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew.  Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing.  

By now, you might have guessed the entire story. Yes, the final part of the story is: the emperor said “Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it.  Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"(For those interested to read the full story, I will give in the comment)

Practice honesty, in its actual and inclusive meaning and gain trust. You will get fulfillment in the relationship which will keep you happy continuously!

We can find many such stories to tell our children, but rather than just telling them the stories we can be the live example for honesty. Children growing with us will inculcate honesty as a habit and not something imposed on them. What do you say?