Keep a Pen

 This is my Final Be Honest Speech for English Practical Test. =). Mas Gusto ko yung I have A dream. haha. ;). Hope You like it.

                Telling what honesty is is easy to do. But living with honesty is more difficult especially in these times where dishonesty is in our culture; though it’s possible if we put our mind and heart into it. But what is honesty, anyway?

                In a story, a father defined honesty to his son as “Returning things that are not yours to its rightful owner”. But the story doesn’t end there. The father was with his friend. His friend was showing him a brand new Swiss Knife. The father envied his friend. And when he found a Swiss Knife on his taxi, he didn’t return it. When he came home, he was told that his son got the highest grade for his work entitled “My Father is an Honest Man”. The father thought for a second. In the end, the father returned the Swiss Knife he found.

                See? Defining honesty is easy but living it is a different matter. If it wasn’t for his son, he wouldn’t return the Swiss Knife he found.

                Honesty, as dictionary defines it, is parallel with honor. It is being faithful to the truth, to reality. I asked some of my friends what honesty is for them. One complimented me that it was found in me! One said that we should have limits in honesty; that we should know when to be honest or not and that we should be ready for the consequences. She has a point. We should only be honest with people who have enough valid reasons to know the truth and we should be ready for the consequences that entail it. Honesty should bring goodness to yourself or to other people and not harm or endanger people, shouldn’t it?

                Another answer I had was that the young people nowadays take honesty for granted. They tell only parts but not the whole truth and its up to the receiver to interpret the fragments of truth. To be honest, I sometimes do the same thing but I also agree with what my friend said. We take advantage, commonly to our parents, because nobody can see or scold us but then, there is still someone who sees us.

                Do you still remember when we were still kids, when our parents usually warn us about telling lies because if we do, our noses will get elongated like Pinocchio or our tongues will be cut off. Today, I would only laugh at them. I was a really weak kid then so I got scared of their warnings but indeed, it has built my value of honesty in me and maybe, it’s also true for others.

                But how come there are still youth who still tells lie? How did it become so rampant in our present times? As a youth who tells lies, maybe I can give some reasongs why we lie. We lie because of several factors: Tact, Peer Pressure, Fear of Consequences, We don’t want anybody to know negative things about us or we see or learn it from our elders.

                We sometimes see it in our elders. They say that no child is born a liar, “Ang bata ay hindi marunong magsinungaling. “ A child is full of innocence, isn’t he? But because we see it in our elders, we, thinking that lying is fine, imitate them. Imagine if the son in the story I told knew that his father wasn’t really honest. The father would destroy the innocence of the child.

                Fear of Consequences. We get so fearful an we don’t act mature so we tell lies. We don’t face what lies ahead; instead, we escape them through lies.

                Tact. We don’t want to hurt other people’s feelings so we lie. We tell that our friend’s work is beautiful but in reality its not. And if we tell the truth, sometimes we are called rude. Peer Pressure.  But being honest and being rude is very different. Being rude is being noisy and insensitive. Being honest is telling the truth. But we are only called rude because people sometimes don’t want to accept the truth. They have their view and if the opinion of others contradicts him, he calls him rude. They cant handle it. It only depends on the person how he will accept it, as a constructive criticism or a negative thing. Have you been or have you met a person like that? So let us all be honest if we want to make the life of our loved ones better. But when we tell them the truth, just tell them personally, and not humiliate them.

                On the other hand,  if us youth continue this habits of lying, we would bear it until we grow up. We, the future leaders of society, should have the value of honesty to avoid corruption, further destruction of the innocence of children etc. We should change this habit NOW because we will find a hard time changing this when we are already grown-ups.

                We all could start with little things. Big things come in small packages, as they say, First we be honest with charity meaning, we tell the WHOLE truth WHOLE-HEARTEDLY. We should not cheat in exams, stop making those “1-2-3’s” in jeepneys, pay the right amount, return the excess change or the things you fine. Just simple things. And these simple things will surely have an effect. And if every youth does it, it will have a bigger impact. As an Non-Government Organization says, “As individual, we are one drop; Together, we are an ocean. “

                “Be honest, even if others are not, even if others will not, even if others cannot.” So with this, I ask you to join with me to this advocacy to the path of honesty. Let us go against the flow of Culture of Dishonesty. Remember that being is honest is having the sense of honor and  “Truth Fears No Questions!”