Makoto -- Honesty

When I was young, my dad used any opportunity he could to point out the importance of honesty in a man's life. "If you say you're going to do something, you do it," he'd say. The idea that my word was my bond, that speaking truth and keeping promises could be tied in some tangible way to my moral fiber and the deepest parts of my being, resonated throughout my teen years. I read books about the idea, I understood honesty on an intellectual level, and whenever I'd hear of some shady businessman or politician lying, cheating, or stealing, I knew they'd made a choice about the type of person they wanted to be. But early on it was more of an ideal floating out there in virtue land, something separate from me. I knew you weren't supposed to lie, in the same way you weren't supposed to steal or murder or fight with your sister.

When I went away to college, it was like stepping into a pressure-cooker virtue laboratory. Those virtues that had been so distant from my everyday actions suddenly leaped to the forefront and I was offered multiple moral choices on an almost hourly basis. Should I use this time to study or play ultimate frisbee? Should I join in on this juicy rumor circle or go directly to the person in question and see how they're doing? Should I tell someone about this person's drug problem or try to intervene myself? Am I OK with the school administrators acting contrary to their code of conduct, and even against the law in their treatment of other students? Should I stay quiet or say something?

Each scenario posed different challenges. Each offered different repercussions. But they all had some test of honesty. It's one of the most fascinating parts of honesty. In most sins, truth is being subverted. Sometimes, as when lying, stealing, or cheating, dishonesty is at the forefront. Other times, pride and selfishness cause us to act in horrible ways, but these are the result of being dishonest with ourselves.

I very quickly noticed something else while at school, something I'd known before but hadn't had the opportunity to really see in action or practice in myself. The more I was honest with myself and others, the easier it was to be honest all the time. But, the more I lied or slacked on my responsibilities, to easier it was to continue down that path. In the same way exercise breaks our body down in order to build it back stronger, exercising the choice to be honest allowed me to see its benefits immediately and make me want more. Being honest with others and with ourselves all the time is no easy task, but isn't that the way of things? Most good things are a bit of a challenge.

Honesty is extremely valuable. When people find an honest mechanic, insurance broker, or friend, they tend to hang onto them for dear life. A wise man once said, "If there were no honesty, it would be invented as a means of acquiring wealth." When someone knows they can trust you, that is a powerful position.

Honesty is a simple idea; easy to understand, hard to implement all of the time. One day your honesty may cause you to give back money you found, or apologize for something you said, or make up for something you did. It may cause you to lose a friend, quit your job, go to jail, or worse. Our human nature hates admitting wrong and asking for forgiveness. It hates looking stupid. But if our actions have any meaning in this world, and if our actions are constantly leading us down the right path or the wrong path, we must take every opportunity to take steps down the right path. Event those little steps, the teeny weeny baby steps that nobody else will even notice right now, are vital, because if we can't make the right choices on tiny issues that hold little to no consequence to us right now, how are we going to make the right decisions when the stakes are much higher? How will we act when our good name, or business, our friendships, or our lives are on the line? Some might say, "Well, if the consequences were serious then I'd definitely tell the truth." Man throughout history has proven this theory to be false again and again.

Mind your smallest steps because thousands of them will take you far, whether in a direction you wanted to go or not. Live honest.