As a kind of introduction, we would like to say that almost every person at least once has been thinking what honesty is. We are not an exception to the rule. It might seem to be a very simple and understandable notion but when you need to define it some questions appear. Not having found out the answer, we turned for help to good and well-known to everyone friend – the Internet. When you google something like «What does honesty mean? », search system gives you a lot of different definitions of honesty, so you even don’t know at which one to look. The one definition which I like the most explains this notion as follows: honesty is a character trait which is used to describe a human who never lies and cheat. In this honesty essay, we would like to share our humble opinion concerning honesty with you.
First of all, we would like you to answer one question – how often do you tell a lie? It is clear that each person will have their unique response: somebody cheats occasionally, somebody always tries to tell only the truth, and for another one, it is quite unacceptable to lie. The one thing we are pretty sure about is the fact that no person has never ever lied. No doubts, even the most honest and kind person has not told the truth at least once. «But how it can be possible?» – you may ask. There is a very simple explanation of this. Being honest is not always such an easy task. We realize well that our words, no matter how truthful they are, may hurt a person who we say them to. All of us have a people in our life that we love and respect. So we are ready to do everything possible to protect them from any kind of negative emotions. This is the moment when such a notion as «a white lie» comes. It means that you don’t tell the truth or tell not the whole story in order not to hurt someone’s feelings and to avoid making someone suffers. When someone tells a white lie, they have the only good intention, don’t they? However, let’s seek help from literature to find out is it a really good way of doing?
There are quite a lot of examples of white lies in literature, but we want to get you familiarized with one from the play “At the bottom” which was written by Maxim Gorky. One of the main characters, Luka, often tells white lies. He meets Actor, who depends enormously on alcohol. Luka gives him false hope and assures him that he can easily cure himself. Obviously, he has no bad intentions at all, but his piece of advice hasn’t helped at all. Moreover, it has made the thighs even worth: at the end of the play; Actor commits a suicide. That’s why I am of the opinion that the truth is always the better way to go. In addition, we shouldn’t forget the fact that one lie turns into all these other lies. Not being honesty can give some temporary result but in the end, it will also make everything more difficult.
Despite the fact that honesty may be harmful sometimes, there are a lot of advantages we can mention to support the idea of telling the truth. Firstly, it is known that we should treat others as we would like them to treat us. We are pretty sure that nobody likes to be deceived. It is a very unpleasant feeling. Secondly, the truth always catches you even when you don’t expect it. So if you don’t want to disappoint somebody, it is better, to tell the truth. Thirdly, we must learn to admit when we are wrong. It is the first step on the way to improving. That’s why we should tell the truth however sad it is, draw conclusions and go on. Finally, if we really want to have a lot of friends and be loved and respected by other members of society, we can’t pretend or lie. If we are honest, other people will trust us. We should stay ourselves and only then we can make our dreams come true.
Continuing our speech on honesty, we cannot but mention about the role which honesty plays in our life. Needless to say that nowadays there is a huge amount of examples of lies. It is everywhere: from harmless cheating during the exam to complex financial frauds. Perhaps that’s why a lot of people, especially persons who have been deceived, are convinced that such notion as honesty doesn’t exist in the reality of modern society. As for me, I believe in honesty or just want to. Anyway, I think that it is one of the things that makes everything still working. If everyone lies, we will have been in total chaos. The importance of honesty can hardly be overestimated. It gets people to bring out their true nature. It seems to me that honesty is one of the main qualities which is included in the list of the attributes that every high-minded person must have. When everyone starts telling only the truth there are can no longer be some misunderstandings and insults. Nobody says that to earn the trust is an easy task but it is worth all your efforts. Having been trusted, you can be sure that you will never remain alone in the difficult situation. That is just what people all over the world need – honesty. Maybe if all of us are honest, there will be fewer wars, conflicts and more mutual understanding and trust.
In conclusion, we would like to say that we should never forget the true meaning of honesty. It is one of the things that make us who we are – human. It is very important to remain honest, primarily with ourselves. Of course, we can lie to somebody, but you can not run away from yourself. So we strongly recommend you to think twice before telling a lie.
