Honesty

Honesty refers to a facet of moral character and denotes positive, virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, and straightforwardness along with the absence of lying, cheating, or theft. Abraham Lincoln's Childhood and Education: Lincoln was born in Hardin County, Kentucky on February 12, 1809. He moved to Indiana in 1816 and lived there the rest of his youth. His mother died when he was nine but he was very close to his stepmother who urged him to read. Lincoln himself stated that he had about one year of formal education. However, he was taught by many different individuals. He loved to read and learn from any books he could get his hands on. Why Lincoln Was Called "Honest Abe" In managing the country store, as in everything that he undertook for others, Lincoln did his very best. He was honest, civil, ready to do anything that should encourage customers to come to the place, full of pleasantries, patient, and alert. On one occasion, finding late at night, when he counted over his cash, that he had taken a few cents from a customer more than was due, he closed the store, and walked a long distance to make good the deficiency. At another time, discovering on the scales in the morning a weight with which he had weighed out a package of tea for a woman the night before, he saw that he had given her too little for her money. He weighed out what was due, and carried it to her, much to the surprise of the woman, who had not known that she was short in the amount of her purchase. Innumerable incidents of this sort are related of Lincoln, of alertness with which he sprang to protect defenseless women from insult, or feeble children from tyranny for in the rude community in which he lived, the rights of the defenseless were not always respected as they should have been. There were bullies then, as now.

M.K.Gandhi
Gandhi's Early Life: Gandhi's parents were Karmachand Gandhi, the dewan (governor) of the western Indian region of Porbandar, and his fourth wife Putlibai. Mohandas was born in 1869, the youngest of Putlibai's children. Gandhi's father was a competent administrator, adept at mediating between British officials and local subjects. His mother was an extremely devout adherent of Vaishnavism, the worship ofVishnu, and devoted herself to fasting and prayer. She taught Mohandas values such as tolerance and ahimsa, or noninjury to living beings. Mohandas was an indifferent student, and even smoked and ate meat during his rebellious adolescence. Gandhi And An Innocent Lie Gandhi could never tolerate a lie. Unlike intellectual high-brows who will say they can tolerate a scoundrel but not a fool, he would bear with a fool sometimes, but never with a liar. In his Satyagraha Ashram he had set up very exacting standards of rectitude, and even children had to conform to them. This little event happened in 1926. A certain young man who had just passed out of the University had come to stay at the Ashram. Gandhi, as a first step in his Ashram course, had prescribed three months expert scavenging for him. The young fellow was fond of children, and he became a general favorite with them. One day he started having some fun with a little Ashram girl, she was eight years of age. This little girl was trying to snatch a big round yellow lemon that he held temptingly before her. He led her a perfect dance, and she screamed with laughter as she jumped about in vain to get at the golden fruit. The child, however, suddenly grew tired of the game and burst into tears. The young man who was taking the lemon to a patient in the Ashram had to find a way out; he made as if he were throwing the lemon away into the Sabarmati River and deftly thrust it into his pocket.

The child quickly brightened up and inquired, 'Now, what will happen to the lemon in the river'? She wanted to run out into the shallow waters and look for it. But the young man said, 'No, it has drowned.' In a moment they were friends again and walked off together to the patients' room. On the way as the young man pulled out his handkerchief, the lemon rolled out on the ground. But to his astonishment the little girl, instead of dashing to seize the lemon stood rooted to the spot looking at him with childish indignation. She said , 'So you told me a lie! You hid the lemon in your pocket and told me that you threw it into the river. All right, I will tell Bapu you are a liar.' And with that she marched away. She went straight to Gandhi, who was at work in his room overlooking the river, and unburdened the story of the lie to him.Gandhiji promised her he would look into the matter. Later in the evening after prayers Gandhi spoke to the young man. The latter related the story, taking care to justify himself on the score that the whole thing had beenpure fun. Gandhi too enjoyed the joke, but he said smilingly, 'You had better be warned, young man. Let the children have no lies even in fun. What is begun in fun may continue as an easy habit with children and once they take lies lightly, then the thing will become serious.' But the matter did not end there. The young like most University graduates was argumentative. He discussed the ethics of 'Lies' uttered in pure fun with a number of members of the Ashram. There was a subdued controversy among the teachers of the Ashram school. Some one asked, if innocent lies were to be taboo, how could one tell children fairy tales or even stories from the Ramayana or the Mahabharata. Kaka Kalelkar got wind of the controversy and clinched the issue in his characteristic way. He said, 'Do not mix the question of lies in daily life with mythology and legend. If University graduates will think more and talk less, they will see at once that it is better to tell no lie to a child and to accustom children to speak the truth in everything

George Washington
(born February 22 [February 11, Old Style], 1732, Westmoreland county, Virginia [U.S.]died December 14, 1799, Mount Vernon, Virginia, U.S.) American general and commander in chief of the colonial armies in the American Revolution (177583) and subsequently first president of the United States (178997).(For a discussion of the history and nature of the presidency, presidency of the United States of America.) George Washington was a man of great personal honesty. The famous story about Washington chopping down the cherry tree, and admitting it to his father with the words, "I cannot tell a lie," perfectly illustrates the character of the Father of Our Country. In his Farewell Address, Washington, having served our country in war and peace, gave his advice that we as a nation should be bound by the same rules of honor and honesty that should bind individuals. He said: "I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs that honesty is always the best policy." As part of his belief that our nation should practice honesty, Washington urged that our Government always be honorable in money matters. He urged our country to borrow as little money as necessary and to avoid piling up a big debt. He realized that emergencies, such as unavoidable wars, would require us to borrow from time to time; but he urged that these debts be paid off as rapidly as possible. Washington said that failure to do this means we will be making our children pay the debts we ourselves should pay. Here are his words from his Farewell Address: "Avoid likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear."