Letter: Honesty, still the best policy

April 30 is National Honesty Day, one-day, 24-hours, set aside to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

It serves, says Psychics Universe as “a reminder that we should be upright and forthcoming.”

Ironic that the same month is bookended by tricks, deceits and falsehoods commonly associated with April 1, and truth, integrity and transparency with April 30.

A story from ancient history:

Two kings contemplated joining forces to go to war against a mutual enemy.

They gathered their respective counselors.

Four-hundred-and-one of them.

Only one said no.

Only one bucked the vast majority.

And only one – the one who never had much of anything good to say about current affairs and how they were conducted – was right.

And because that one was ignored, many, many lives would be lost.

“An honest desire to do right,” wrote Matthew Henry, “preserves a man from fatal mistakes, better than a thousand fine-drawn distinctions.”

Was honesty the quality that people in 50 countries wanted most for their children to emulate when asked in a poll?

No, it was not.

‘Caring’ topped the list.

But interestingly, perhaps ironically, teaching kids to care required teaching kids to tell the truth.

In one study, toddlers received a rag doll, and the leg fell off while they were playing with it alone. Toddlers who understood guilt attempted to fix the doll, approach the experimenter, and explain what happened.

“Parents raise caring children by expressing disappointment and explaining why the behavior was wrong, how it affected others, and how they can rectify the situation.”

Toddlers.

Can you imagine?

Toddlers learning right from wrong; how wrong, wrong is; and how to make wrong right?

Toddlers?

Many adults cannot – or will not – distinguish between the two, let alone honestly deal with it.

And that could be because there are not those who have the curmudgeon, whistle-blowing wherewithal to challenge the status quo; to rock the boat; to have the audacity to say the emperor has no clothes.

To point out why it is wrong.

To care enough to confront.

One of the great opportunities this forced, coronavirus, homeschooling world presents us as parents is the privilege of teaching our children their A,B,C’s: how their actions affect others; why their behavior was wrong; what they can do to correct the matter.

To be that one.