“Honesty is often very hard. The truth is often painful. But the freedom it
can bring is worth the trying.”—Fred Rogers
***
During my high school years, my mother informed me that I was to be named Honesto. However, my aunt Lydia objected, claiming it was too antiquated for a name. Thankfully, the name Henrylito – a blend of the English name (Henry) and the Spanish name (Lito) – came into existence.
I believe I was in college when Billy Joel’s song “Honesty” gained immense popularity. The chorus encapsulated the essence: “Honesty is such a lonely word / Everyone is so untrue / Honesty is hardly ever heard / And mostly what I need from you.”
In today’s world of corruption, honesty truly remains a lonely word. “Nothing in this world is harder than speaking the truth, nothing easier than flattery,” said Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky.
So many famous men and women have said about honesty. English author Jane Austen wrote, “Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised or a little mistaken.”
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill believed that “the first step is to be honest, and then to be noble.” American First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt shared this thought: “No matter how plain a woman may be, if truth and honesty are written across her face, she will be beautiful.”
“Honesty is not found in revealing the truth, but in understanding how deeply afraid of it we are. To become honest is in effect to become fully and robustly incarnated into powerlessness,” penned David Whyte. American President Abraham Lincoln said it well: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”
Does it pay to be honest? Allow me to share this story: Once upon a time, there was a king who grew old and knew it was coming time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or one of his own children, he decided to do something different.
One day, the king called all the young people in the kingdom together. “It has come time for me to step down and to choose the next king,” he told them. “I have decided to choose one of you.”
The kids were shocked! “I am going to give each one of you a seed today,” the king continued. “One seed. It is a very special seed. I want you to go home, plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring to me, and the one I choose will be the next emperor of the kingdom!”
One of the boys who attended the meeting was a boy named Joshua. Like the others, he, too, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the whole story. She helped him get a pot and some planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown.
After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Joshua kept going home and checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by. Still nothing.
By now, others were talking about their plants, but Joshua didn’t have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Joshua’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn’t say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.
A year later, all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the king for inspection. Joshua told his mother that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot. But she encouraged him to go, and to take his pot, and to be honest about what happened. Joshua felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace.
When Joshua arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by all the other youths. They were beautiful, in all shapes and sizes. Joshua put his empty pot on the floor and other kids laughed at him. “Hey nice try,” said those who felt sorry for him.
When the king arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Joshua just tried to hide in the back. “My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown,” commented the king. “Today, one of you will be appointed the next king!”
Suddenly, the king spotted Joshua at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Joshua was terrified. “The king knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me banished to another kingdom!”
When Joshua got to the front, the king asked his name. “My name is Joshua,” he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The king asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Joshua, and then announced to the crowd, “Behold your new king! His name is Joshua!”
Joshua couldn’t believe what he heard. Joshua couldn’t even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?
“One year ago today,” the king explained, “I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds, which would not grow.
“All of you, except Joshua, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Joshua was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, I have chosen him to be the new king!”
So, who would be our next president?
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