How to be honest ?

That's a million dollar question? Unfortunately, there is no single answer. Honesty is at best personal inclination to be true devoid of any expectation in return. One has to have earnest desire of being honest. It should be like a habit.

Childhood stories, examples showcased by elders at home, school  etc. can have far reaching consequence on shaping one's character. Lessons of life is the best teacher.

Still, there are measures which can be taken at individual level, societal level and at institutional level to promote honesty in our societies. This requires following interventions : 

Individual level :

• Reading biography of the likes of Mahatma Gandhi
• Minimalism: Minimizing our wants/greed and if not, then ensuring that we always adopt right means to achieve our wants.
• Willingness to inquire about consequence of being dishonest

Societal level :

• Counter materialistic culture 
• The yardstick for measuring success should not merely be wealth but how they achieved it.
• To tackle nepotism, we should not exploit relationship for self benefit rather we must strive ourselves to get what we want.

Institutional level : 

• School: imparting moral education and not just enriching in maths & science.]
• Right leadership : can inspire good character by providing role model.
• Legislation : law makers need to make stricter law against fraudsters & enforcement agency need to catch them.

The approach has to be combination of carrot and stick - rewarding the honest & hardworking and seriously reprimanding the dishonest. 

Impediments in being honest ?

Now that we understand the importance of being honest it is important to know what are different impediments that stops us from leading an honest life.





The impediments are both internal and external to the agency. These are explained below with some examples.

Internal factors:

• Human greed - the root cause of all evils.
• Rationalization of existing malpractices : e.g. mentality which sounds like "small grafts do not matter as long as efficiency is not impacted". This is the deep seated problem.
• Relationship : We have soft corners for our close relatives, friends and well wishers. These relationship breeds expectation and to meet those expectation we might be compromising with our integrity. That does not mean relationships are bad. That only suggest relationship can handicap our honest & impartial decision making.

External factors :

• Societal acceptance : In a developing society like ours, often dishonest people manage to wield power and money. In a world becoming materialistic such people enjoy respect from society irrespective of means they have adopted.
• Ambiguity in laws : rules & regulations needs to be as clear as possible.
• Culture of organisation/ Departmental tolerance : An organisation showing lenient attitude towards dishonest and malafide practices is likely to breed evil tadpole.
• Poor enforcement and organisational oversight 
• Materialistic culture : Material prosperity has become the yardstick of measuring one's success and that, arguably, forces many to amass wealth irrespective of means they adopt.
• Harassing the honest : while one may argue honesty is a virtue and is expected of everyone, for any quality to be promoted in society it needs adequate feedback. Suitable prize for those showcasing honesty must be the norm and not harassing them. 

How to overcome these impediments? Read the next blog in this series.