The Standard I Hold Myself To
I always say I was raised my not just my parents but by an entire community. I grew up in a home and community where everyone was each others keeper. We lived like one big family and that alone has shaped me a lot into who I am today. There have been days when my parents were away for a while and i had to live with my neighbors and there were also days when my neighbors kids had to stay with us for one of two reasons. We all grew up like siblings and our upbringing was one of the best.
My parents however did a great working bringing up someone like me. As a child, I was a very stubborn one. I wasn’t troublesome, but I always did the things that would always leave your mouth open. I bet it was tough raising me but at the end of the day, I believe they would say it was worth the try. If there’s one value my parents and entire community managed to instill in myself and all the kids around, it would be the act of speaking the truth all the time.
Lying in our home was more like something unnecessary because even when you did something bad you were given the chance to explain yourself and talk things out. But lying is more like you denying yourself that chance even before you had it. We lived in a very open society why honestly was a very dear trait. As I grew up, I came to realize that most people in our world today lack this trait and having it as a part of you and holding on to it meant a lot.
As old as we are now, I still meet people who just open their mouths and lie about things we all know are false. And what baffles me is that even when they are caught in the act, they try to lie to cover it up. That’s one thing about telling lies. Once you start lying , you would have to keep on covering up your lies with more lies and honestly, I believe it’s exhausting and eventually such people would come to realize that all these lies weren’t really worth it.
Lying is another way to ruin communication because effective communication means all parties are required to be open and truthful because it is only then that you can communicate effectively and get the best of results. I’ve lived it and I’ve seen it and I would highly recommend honesty above all for every individual out there. The truth they say shall set you free in any situation you find yourself!
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African parents like yours are hard to come by, bit all kids were given the chance to explain themselves when things go wrong.
Lying is something I had to learn somewhere in my adulthood inorder to limit sharing certain things about myself but along the line, I realized that it was not worth the stress so I stopped, if I don't want to tell you something, I'll go straight and tell you I don't want to talk about that aspect or best remain mute.
There is no gain in telling lies, it's a big work on its own.. unfortunately, people see it as something normal in our world today.
Honesty pays. It's sad that society is gradually condition people to easily accept and do things that are known to be wrong. Worse, they defend it. It was very good of your parents to instill this character of honesty in you. Lying leads to momentary benefits, but it has major issues.