HONESTY, THE CHARACTER BUILDER
Just as the straight line is the shortest distance between two points so
is honesty the only proper attitude of one person toward another.
Without it there is no understanding possible. It must always remain
supreme as a quality without which character becomes a sham, a
superficial thing that has no basis in fact. _The ability to look the
other fellow in the eye_ is as necessary to character as the foundation
is to a house. It comes out of that "_great within_" which we are now
exploring. It arises from the courageous facing of our weaknesses and
becomes a part of the man _who knows himself and laughs with life_, at
the mere joy of living, doing, accomplishing ... winning against all
odds.
Honesty accompanies a proper self-esteem and its cultivation should
become a part of our earliest education. It doesn't grow anywhere
except within ourselves and will never be handed to us on a silver
platter. If we fail to find it when we are young it will have small
chance of obtaining a grip on us later. _It is the one quality with
which to crown our highest attributes._ It is final proof that we are
capable of just thought and square dealing, and is proof positive that
we are part and parcel of the wholesome spirit which rules the universe.
Its possession is greater than riches for its dividend is happiness and
contentment and we cannot go wrong if we so live that we can look any
man in the eye and _tell him the truth_.
To live in the full sense means to be alert. Whatever high moral plane
we shall achieve must be held against all temptation. There is no
compromise. _Self-deceit_ is nothing less than _self-stultification_. We
only fool ourselves and soon find ourselves slipping down hill. It will
be hard climbing getting back. And what of the wear and tear on our
ambitions meanwhile!
Honesty does not grow naturally out of a dull, uninspired life. It goes
with the energetic, the forceful. The dull soul who is content to plod
along year after year in the same rut may be honest, and this one
redeeming feature may be of such inestimable value to him that it
sweetens and softens his entire days. It will bring him friends ...
true-blue friends, who will excuse all other shortcomings _because of
his honesty_. It gives him the unadulterated trust of his employer and
it arouses a certain admiration among his narrow circle of
acquaintances. If this is true with the dullard, the weakling, then what
must it mean _when possessed by the great_? We know, for instance, how
the nation instinctively turned to General Washington when it came to
choosing their President after the Revolutionary War. He may have been
gifted, he may have been one of the world's greatest captains, but the
one quality which endeared him to his countrymen was a tremendous moral
superiority. "_He never told a lie_" rang around the world. Summed up,
his virtues amounted to those five words. Some statesmen may have been
more astute but Washington was honest--"_he never told a lie_." The
people knew they could trust this man so they elected him to fill the
highest place within their gift.
Honesty with ourselves is the first thing to remember. Unless we are, it
will be impossible for us to enter into that spiritual contentment
enjoyed by those who _are_ honest with themselves. If we are untrue to
ourselves how can we be true to others? The framework of a man's moral
being must be that of honesty. It must become his very nature and become
automatic in its processes. It belongs to the healthy, those who keep
themselves well through _vigorous exercise and temperate living_. It is
not a quality set aside for the lucky few. Every man, woman and child
possesses it in some degree and only its constant neglect trims it to a
minimum. It is one of those fundamentals of life, one of those powerful
and moving forces that rule society. _We are either honest or we are
not._ We cannot be _nearly honest_ and get away with it.
When one stops to consider honesty, even for a moment, its full
importance is realized. For example, imagine having a dishonest friend.
Could we go to him with the secrets of our heart? Could we trust him?
Would we trust anyone who might turn traitor? Again: suppose we were
untrue to ourselves, and the fact became known. Could we blame others if
they passed us up as a companion? Never in a thousand years. _We must
sleep in the beds we prepare for ourselves._
Men have grown accustomed through the years to certain standards. These
are now the moral laws which control and guide the destinies of entire
races, whole generations. There must have been a good reason for these
laws or they could never have come into being. Society does not adopt
many unnecessary rules, but among the vital laws _honesty stands out in
bold relief_. It has become deeply imbedded in the minds of mankind that
everyone must be true to himself. It is taken for granted that those who
are not would naturally be _false to everybody_.
The reason for this lies in the fact that society will not proceed with
any course of action without being able to trust its members. The
general in charge of an army would have a hard time of it if he were
unable to place faith in the subordinate to whom he gave instructions
that might lead to a crisis in the battle. Society would dash itself
upon the rocks were it not conscious that certain people are
courageously honest, _and in these it finds its leaders_.
To rise in life means that our fellow man believes in us and wishes us
to do so. Without his co-operation it would be futile to arouse our own
ambitions. We could not hope to win a victory all alone and against the
great majority who believe in certain standards and conditions. We might
fool ourselves into thinking that because of some stroke of fortune we
had established an immunity for ourselves. But some day _our
consciences_ would tell us how feebly we had succeeded.
There is only one method, only one way ... rise through honesty and an
optimistic belief in self. And let us not plume ourselves because of
our virtue. _Personal honesty is our due to ourselves and our fellow
man._
One of the distinctive elements in the honest man's make-up is that of
laughter. The ones who live up to their ideals, do not feel that life is
such a dark place, after all. It may mean hard work, little play and
often delayed rewards but the fact that there is a world, and that it is
filled with other honest souls is reward enough to give us courage to
laugh as we go along. _We can always afford to laugh--when we're
honest_.
The man who is innately honest has no reason to fear the snares of
fortune. He knows that he can win the trust of men; he knows that he
already has it. He has no dread of looking into the other fellow's eye.
He knows where he stands in life. He has won that which he has through
struggle, and he does not intend to lose it. He does not intend to fail.
_He cannot fail--he cannot lose._ No matter how things might go at this
moment or that the next will find him on the rising tide of new
opportunities---new chances. His reputation travels before him like the
advance agent. His coming is heralded and he is welcomed into any
community.
It isn't as though there were only a few honest men. This welcome, this
"glad hand," is always extended by society to the honest man as a token
of approval. The world's work is a tremendous matter. There is always
room for another worker to handle some part of it. And only the true,
the sincere, are capable of doing this in the proper way. The leaders of
society in the broader sense are those _who win the faith of the average
man_. We look up to Lincoln because we know that he was the one man in a
million to accomplish the greatest task ever set before a human being.
We realize that he was honest--_honest in the huge sense_ so necessary
to the accomplishment of big ideals. And we know that in order to win
some part of that great trust we must obey the standards of honesty and
decency that lie below the surface and only need to be called to life
and action in order to be used.
And laughter will arouse that sense as quickly as anything else. The man
who is capable of laughing heartily is not apt to be the one who
carries some _conscience-stricken thought around with him_. It is the
easiest thing in the world to detect an untrue laugh. The real laugh
springs out of the depths of being and comes with a ringing sense of
security and _faith in one's self_. It goes with the workman in the
early morning when he swings along the road to the factory. It
accompanies the soldier into battle. It arouses the clerk from lethargy.
It brightens the sick room. It raises us all to unexplored heights, and
as evidence of our state of mind it can only mean one thing--honesty and
sincerity. No character can exist without this outward exhibition of an
inward honesty. _The mere cultivation of laughter would eventually lead
to honesty._ The fact that you are laughing, enjoying life, awakens you
to a spirit of security and a feeling of the joy of living. Gloomy men
are the ones whose tendency is toward crime and trouble. Laughing men
are the ones who stir the world with new desires and make life worth
living. Therefore we say--_laugh and live_!
[Illustration: _A Scene from "His Picture in the Papers"_]