Honesty is the best policy
The proverb “Honesty is the best policy” clearly underlines the idea that no matter what life circumstances and situations are, every person should always remain frank, honest and sincere to themselves and to the people around. But unfortunately the idea about being honest in any case sounds a bit utopian today when people lie and cheat so often.
In my opinion there are two major reasons that could help to explain why the abovementioned proverb does not always work. Thus, firstly people may prefer not being honest when they realize that excessive honesty and sincerity will make no good to their personal interests and benefits. Secondly, honesty is not regarded as the best policy when it can ruin relationship between people. Especially it concerns those people whose feelings we are afraid to hurt, for example, our family members and friends.
So, whether to be honest or not is a personal choice, which undoubtedly depends on a person’s upbringing, a set of moral qualities and the way a person perceives the reality and understands life. It goes without saying that each person has to face such a choice at least once in life. And of course I am not an exception.
During my university experience I dealt with a situation where I had to decide whether or not to be honest. From the first sight the situation is not very serious but nevertheless.
Once my friend asked me to read her writing assignment and to tell my opinion trying to be as unbiased as possible. It should be mentioned here that she had been working on this paper for several months because its quality influenced her grade report. My friend was sure that she had written a perfect paper. It even seemed to me that she wanted to boast rather than to hear my opinion. After reading the paper I found it terrible. Moreover, there were evident traces of plagiarism. And I came up with an unpleasant dilemma: to tell the truth or to take on a role of a person who tells what his friends strive to hear but not the truth as an attempt to avoid any pitfalls in the relations. I decided to choose the first option almost without any hesitation. I strongly believe that any truth is much better than white life so I could not do otherwise. The consequences of my decision were quite bearable. My friend took offence at me of course and even did not talk to me for some days. But then she cooled down and we had a talk. As a result she found my critique appropriate and took it into consideration to improve her assignment. So everything finished well.
All in all, judging by my personal experience I can say for sure that it is easier to be honest in any situation than trying to find the way to be cunning so that others could not guess that you are lying. Honest people always have clear conscience and stable moral condition. They do not need to worry that one day their dishonest behavior or thoughts will be disclosed, which will result in spoilt relations and reputation.
In conclusion I can say that my story one more time proves that honesty is the best policy no matter how difficult it may seem to stay honest in any life circumstances.
