Importance Of Honesty

1039 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Importance of integrity in our society

The first time I learned about the implication of the word honesty in fourth grade as I began to understand the consequences of not telling the truth. My lying stage began with vegetables. Never would I consume anything that was not fruit, ice cream, or pizza; therefore, it was my ultimate goal to figure out a strategy to avoid discovering the taste of the next new veggie that would end up on my dinner plate. Eventually, I figured out that napkins and the garbage can were my way out of my family’s policy ─ no one leaves the dinner table until all food has been consumed. My parents never caught me in the act of throwing away countless amounts of vegetables, but one day, I forgot to make my broccoli disappear. Unfortunately, this time my mom …show more content…

To turn honesty into a positive attribution to society, individuals must comprehend and accept the term for what it truly insinuates. According to the Webster’s dictionary, honesty is the quality or fact of being honest while employing integrity, which translates into acting truthful while considering moral principles and individual character. Just as a coin possesses two sides, the word honesty consists of two sections (truths and lies), and what holds these sides together to form the coin is integrity. Individuals must evaluate each situation and determine which side the coin of honesty should land on. The honesty coin starts to fall apart when individuals begin to justify the fact that people have the ability to encompass integrity while lying. This statement becomes easily contradictable when the words origin is included into the definition. According to the Webster’s online, honesty originates from the Latin word honestus which means honor. Throughout time individuals stopped affiliating the word honesty with honor, but it is a key component of the word’s meaning as the Webster’s dictionary states that honor is to regard to something or someone with great respect. The choice to be honest or not shall encompass honor and integrity as honesty was meant to signify more than just simply telling the

Show More
Related

  • A Rhetorical Analysis of “The Death of Honesty” by William Damon

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “The Death of Honesty,” William Damon raises the concern that current apathy towards increasing dishonesty threatens democracy. In this essay taken from the online volume “Endangered Virtues ” published by the Hoover Institute in 2012, Damon initially concedes that there are situations where lying could be considered acceptable. However, with that being acknowledged, he transitions to his main premise that honesty is losing its importance in society and will lead to its downfall, and he cites examples in politics, law, journalism, and business in contemporary society where dishonesty is expected, and even, condoned. Damon finally directs his remarks pointedly at teachers and current students who accept cheating in schools. To persuade his audience of university students and academic scholars, Damon uses many rhetorical devices and styles including classical logos, pathos, and ethos, and allusions to make an ethical appeal regarding the necessity for honesty.

    Read More

  • Pete Rose, And The Lack Of Integrity

    1421 Words  | 3 Pages

    Integrity is a fundamental value that the society admires and people strive for. It is a value that requires practice on a daily basis. This quality is always voiced strongly when discussing an individual’s character. When enquiring about an individual, the response usually begins with “ …that person is an honest person or the person has integrity.” Integrity and honesty

    Read More

  • Exploring Emotions and Truth in Welty's Literature

    330 Words  | 1 Pages

    Welty's honest tone draws readers more closely to her emotions regarding literature through phrases like "the feeling that resides in the printed word, reaches me through the reader-voice" and "whether I'm right to trust so far I don't know". Welty uses words like "truth" and "trust" in order to express her abstract emotions in a way that the reader can understand, but that is also representative of her actual feelings. She writes, "the sound of what falls on the page begins the process of testing it for truth" and "I have always trusted this voice". When people write, the words tend to resound inside their own heads as they go. By "truth", Welty means how "right" or "correct" the words sound together. This not only refers to grammar, but also

    Read More

  • Integrity In To Kill A Mockingbird Analysis

    1202 Words  | 3 Pages

    Integrity means to adhere to a personal moral code but that is not a guarantee with honesty. For example, if a person breaks something they were not supposed to and that person is not asked about what they did and they keep it silent that does not mean said person is lying. However, a person who personally believes in owning up to their actions and adheres to that belief tells someone that they broke an item by mistake then they are showing integrity. Basically, honesty is giving your word but integrity is keeping it. You can be honest about believing in something but if you adhere to that moral belief then you are showing integrity. American professor Stephen L. Carter wrote in his essay “The Insufficiency of Honesty” that “The first point to understand about the difference between honesty and integrity is that a person may be entirely honest without ever engaging in the hard work of discernment that integrity requires: she may tell us quite truthfully what she believes without ever taking the time to figure out whether what she believes is good and right and true.” (Carter) This shows that a person can tell the truth about what they believe but if do not follow it consistently, it means that they are not showing integrity. American writer Isaac Asimov said in his book How to Enjoy Writing: A Book of Aid and Comfort when he said “Integrity, is, to me, a somewhat stronger word than “honesty.” “Honesty” often implies truth-telling and little more, but “integrity” implies wholeness, soundness, a complex philosophy of life.” (Asimov) This further explains the difference between integrity and honesty. Integrity and honesty are not the same but are both very important to have based on personal

    Read More

  • Mistaking Honesty for Integrity

    674 Words  | 2 Pages

    In our society there excites a general feeling of distrust. We live in a culture of false advertising and as a result we don’t know who we can trust. People are constantly afraid that the government, corporations and media, are lying to them. Stephen L. Carter’s article The Insufficiency of Honesty, captured my attention because it addressed this issue at its core and left me contemplating the issue of integrity vs. honesty. Currently, there is an outcry for honesty. But in truth honesty is not enough and not quit what we are looking for. Honesty is often used to deceive, to induce harm and to avert blame. What people are really searching for is integrity. Carter’s article address the difference between honesty and integrity and how honesty can be used dishonestly. He also discussed how long held beliefs effect our perception of honesty. All of these factors affect how we view our society and add to our feelings of mistrust.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Lying In Blackburn's Being Good

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    When parents tell their children how great the pictures they drew in school even though were realistically mediocre, is a primary example of dishonesty for the better of others. One of the roles of parents is to provide their children with optimism and support so they learn to be motivated and strive for success. Despite their children’s flaws in certain skills, parents feel obligated to provide them with dishonesty because their kids desire positivity about themselves. Lying is one way to protect people’s feelings about themselves.

    Read More

  • Vainity vs Honesty

    659 Words  | 2 Pages

    Honesty is not the best policy, and being vain is not something to be ashamed of. However, too much of either of these things and you have a problem. There has to be an balance in your life of the two to get a positive result. Literature provides us with multitudes of examples on each scenario, whether it’s too much vanity, too much honesty, or the perfect balance of the two.

    Read More

  • Stephen L Carter's The Insufficiency Of Honesty

    660 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Stephen L Carter's "The Insufficiency of Honesty", he attempts to dissect exactly what it means to be honest and to have integrity in the worlds view. We soon realize as a reader that it takes a greater deal of effort to participate in

    Read More

  • The Insufficiency Of Honesty Analysis

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    Through out history people have been influenced by what they want to hear and the way a current trend is happening. The evolution of mankind has drifted towards a different society than what we where born to sustain. We are emotionally driven human beings that want to feel accepted by the rules of society. Sometimes an individual can confuse actions or emotions towards trying to fulfill the standards society has imposed. I have analyzed two articles that incorporate how a society reacts towards integrity as well as honesty and the belief that an individual in order to be a part of society one must comply with the standards that are set. As I began to interpret what Stephen L. Carter explained in “The Insufficiency of Honesty” I examined they

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The (Honest Truth About Dishonesty By Dan Ariely

    1301 Words  | 3 Pages

    Have you ever told a lie? Or cheated - harmlessly enough, maybe by accident, you realized later? If your answer is yes, do not despair -- all is not lost, and there is a good chance that your counterparts who answered “no” are lying. Human behavior - regardless of culture, creed, country of origin, or religion - is irrationally peppered with numerous, documented examples of lying and cheating. Individually and collectively, people lie to and cheat everyone -- especially ourselves.

    Read More

  • Honesty

    668 Words  | 2 Pages

    You pull up to the second window at the McDonalds’s drive-through to pick up the shake you just ordered and paid for, and the person working there hands you a huge bag of food while asking you if this is what you ordered. Do you A: Answer “Yes” and take the food or B: Answer “No” and tell him/her that you only paid for a shake? Yes this really did happen to me. What did I do? Believe it or not, I did the honest thing and gave the food back. But the real question is what would a majority of American’s youth do in a similar situation. There are two potentially dishonest acts in this situation, lying and stealing. In my opinion most high school kids are not above lying and/or stealing. The reason this is true is simply that many of today’s parents are not above lying and/or stealing. So after observing people that hold a high place of respect do things unmoral like this, their conscience says to itself, “Okay, lying and/or stealing is not really that bad, and is acceptable to my parents.” A majority of Americans youth today are morally confused, due to the un-honorable actions of their parents.

    Read More

  • Proverbs: Honesty Vs. Dishonesty

    1798 Words  | 4 Pages

    To be honest is to be believed in to create a bond that will grow and prosper. To be dishonest is to be led astray to harm others to where they might get in trouble, injured, or even worse death and all bonds, present or future, will be no longer. Honesty is a means to build one’s trust. In the end, honesty can help a person go a long way, while dishonesty will lead to nowhere as stated by some of the Proverbs.

    Read More

  • Honesty In Conduct Essay

    709 Words  | 2 Pages

    Honesty in conduct is the foundation of every successful business organization. The substratum of any organization depends upon the level of morality followed by the elements that run that organization. Honest conduct requires us to practice and preach those ideologies that will further strengthen the level of trust people place upon us. Honesty in its narrowest form is the act of telling the truth, but honesty in conduct is much more than that. Honest conduct requires earnestness, no act of misleading, deviousness or betrayal. What’s most important is the loyalty to the organization and the act of good faith.

    Read More

  • Importance Of Kindness Essay

    1633 Words  | 4 Pages

    Honesty means that we shouldn’t deceive others or take things that aren’t ours. It means following the rules, and if you break one, don’t try and deny it, just own your mistake and accept the consequence. Additionally, it is important to learn from those mistakes. If we all just hid our mistakes, we would never learn.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Integrity

    1186 Words  | 3 Pages

    My friends and I pretty much agree what integrity is. Morals and honesty. Those are what make our society work. Without it, we have anarchy. Basic human decency helps us live in a basically good world. Of course it is not perfect (see: gang members, terrorists, and the likes), but those who choose to live their lives with g...

    Read More

More about Importance Of Honesty

Open Document