No legacy is so rich as honesty

“No legacy is so rich as honesty” William Shakespeare

Growing up my family bestowed many values that I have carried throughout my life many of which include being polite to others, always be a lady, stand up for what is right, and to have respect for others. Knowing what I know now having those as habits will bring you far in life. There are times that I do not act the part and I am not afraid to say it. I have learned from my mistakes which brings me to one of the most important values that I live by every day, honesty. I hold it close to my heart and cherish it because it reaps respect and control.

When I was a young girl I went into a store and took a sucker and did not pay for it and when my grandmother found out what I did wasn’t I in big trouble. I got the “you know better look” but I had no idea what was coming next. I had to go right back in that store with my grandma right behind me every step of the way and tell the cashier that I took that sucker and I was sorry. My grandma paid for the sucker but all was not over because in the end even after the sucker was paid for and we were back in the car I did not get it. To a little kid that was a hard lesson learned. As Tracy Lawrence sings,” lessons learned and they sure run deep they don’t go away and they don’t come cheap.” There are no better words than to describe that moment in my life. It is not that the people in the store knew that I took the sucker or even that they would have missed it, or the fifty cents it would have made them but my grandma was not going to let me by with something she knew was dishonest. That day I received a gift and although it was not the sucker that I wanted it was something that took me a few years to figure out and it will stay with me for a lifetime.

Today, there are many times that I would rather just take the easy way out and cheat or lie my way into victory and no one would probably even notice but that would be a battle lost in my life and I will not lose at a battle that I was taught to win. I know that I am not a model of perfection in any way and I am not here to say that a lie has never drifted from my lips but I am here to say that I would rather deal with the struggle of reality and facing the truth than living a lie. My mother always told me that if you tell one lie you have to tell a million more to cover it up.

In my short life of just twenty years I have learned and experienced some of the greatest things and I am forever grateful I have not seen the Great Wall of China, I have not seen the roman coliseum, I have not got to experience the pyramids of Egypt but I am able to look the people around me in the face and speak of the truth to them and that is the greatest wonder to me. I wish it was an epidemic around the world to speak and live the truth but in fact the truth hurts at times but I find more pain in speaking a lie than learning a lesson from it.

I would rather someone hate me for telling them the truth than love me for leading them in a trail of lies. That is why I think my friends and family ask me for advice because whether they want to hear it or not I am painfully honest. I believe the truth is an exciting concept and it is sad that people drift away from it when it is most needed.