What has happened to honesty?
Lately, I have found myself asking that question more than I ever have before. Honesty has become optional in relationships, both intimate and distant. Whether dealing with a family member, close friend, or a customer service worker, honesty has become less and less prevalent. People are quick to omit crucial details or omit the entire story. Telling the truth, the complete truth, has become a rarity. I want to know why.
For me, honesty is one of the greatest signs of respect. It is one of my top priorities and something I value tremendously. I give honesty and expect the same in return. So when I began noticing a decline in the amount of honesty I received from others, I became concerned and wary. If honesty cannot be expected, it makes for a dangerous and untrustworthy world.
In business relationships, honesty is crucial to prevent chaos or misunderstanding. Without honesty, unnecessary chaos will commence. Here's a small-scale example. My workplace hosts a lot of day camps, parties, and other fun events. Because of this, we have to make multiple confirmation calls and emails and triple check every detail. Recently, a coworker lied about making a confirmation call. As a result, this day camp came in unexpectedly and we were far from prepared. We were understaffed and overflowing with customers because of this lie. This small lie quickly created a chain of events that could have been easily prevented. This incident has lead me to no longer trust my coworker. This small lie has prevented a friendship between us and a functional business relationship. Without honesty, business relationships cannot work smoothly and a business cannot thrive.
Intimate relationships often suffer from dishonesty. Dishonesty breaks the trust between people because they can no longer rely on your word. Trusting false words can cause one to embarrass and hurt his or herself. Betrayal of trust by lying is a relationship breaker that is too common. Dishonesty is also blatant disrespect. Lying is robbing somebody of their right to the truth. Without the respect of honesty, a relationship is broken. By lying, someone always gets the short end of the stick which will quickly deteriorate a functional relationship.
I say all this to show how crucial honesty is to maintaining healthy, functional relationships. Honesty is not optional. It is a sign of respect and decency.
