The many faces of Honesty

Imagine for one second, your life without honesty. Honesty enters your life in many forms, has been there from the time you arrived until the day your last breath is taken. Think about it, you don’t have to look that hard to see.

Somewhere today a Mother is laying her eyes for the first time upon her newborn baby. After many months she is finally able to see the shining face she’s longed for. Nothing exists in that room except that child and she cries. That is the beauty of honesty.

Sometimes honesty comes wrapped in a tiny package, presented by a grown man who gets down on one knee, exposing himself vulnerable to the woman he loves. Inside a little diamond is beckoning her to marry him. That is the love of honesty.

Honesty takes the voice of a little girl, who clearly and confidently announces that she hates little Billy down the road, because he’s full of cooties. That is the innocence of honesty.

Inside every airport in the world, honesty is present in thousands of faces there every day. Faces of friends, families and lovers saying hello after long periods apart, greeting one another with such force they cannot even speak. Saying goodbye with long embraces, tears and sadness and promises of return one day. In every face there is honesty’s devotion.

A man sits down after a long hard day, he gazes out the window in contemplation, with so much on his mind he struggles to relax. As he looks down, his dog’s head rests concerned on his lap and he smiles. Right there, is the loyalty of honesty.

In a dark room a woman sits alone staring at her wedding photo. She hears the sound of her husband’s footsteps as he walks out the front door. As the door slams shut, she’s forced to go on in her life without him. That is the pain of honesty.

A young man stands at the doorway of his parent’s home, taking a deep breath before the door opens. He comes to bear his soul about all that he truly is and to say that there could never be the perfect woman for him. His heart belongs to another man. That is the truth of honesty.

A chopper sounds loudly in the sky, on the ground many troops are moving swiftly to safety. Gunshots are heard in every direction, as the men look up they see an explosion not too far away. Every Officer takes stock of who’s still with them, seeing only the memories of those who no longer are. That is the price of honesty’s freedom.

Eating away at a woman’s heart is a secret she keeps in silence. To unleash it would change the life she knows. She tries hard to confront the door she keeps tightly closed, she opens her mouth so many times to give it away but only silence ensues. That is the fear of honesty.

An old couple lies in bed each night, instead of chatting endlessly about nothing at all, they smile lovingly at one another. Pictures of their children and grandchildren scatter the house, a life long together, they’ve seen so much holding hands. That’s not just love and devotion you’re seeing, it’s honesty’s trust.

The best kind of honesty is one sliced up and shared among friends, where even at age 42 you admit that you’re still singing into a hairbrush to your favorite song at home alone. Where women can laugh about even the most embarrassing situations, swap stories and give advice to one another. That’s honesty’s comfort.

On the train a woman sits alone quietly crying. The man sitting opposite her reaches in his pocket and hands her a tissue asking if she is ok. She smiles and nods thanking him for his concern. They talk and laugh the rest of the journey until she reaches her stop. He could have ignored her, but he choose not to. That is the compassion of honesty.

Honesty will enter your life, sometimes through an act of kindness, sometimes through the face of someone you love. It comes from the ones we are closest to, from strangers we will never meet again and at times you will give honesty to others. It doesn’t always feel good and sometimes we sacrafice so much in order to live our lives honestly. But compare that to a life lived dishonestly and I assure you it is better to face the pain than live a life of lies.

Many times I sit with people who are desperate to find honesty in their lives. They hold within them a deep belief that it simply does not exist, they have lost faith in others, been hurt, seen honesty’s pain and suffering. We focus so much on the negative, if we just opened our eyes for one moment to see how honesty truly touches our lives every day, we’d find it in the most obscure places.

A world without honesty, simply does not exist.

•