Speaking the truth:
teaching youth the value of honesty
What you need To know — ASAP
Sponsored by the Aroostook Substance Abuse Prevention Collaborative
Thomas Jefferson once said’ “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” If others were to write your life story would they fill your first chapter with stories of the truth you have lived in your life. Would you be known as a person who could be counted on to be honest and trustworthy?
Honesty, according to Search Institute, is when a person tells the truth even when it is not easy. For many young people and adults alike, telling the truth can at times seem even more difficult than just telling an untruth. It takes courage, and a strong sense of self for young people to admit they have done something wrong. For instance, if a young person throws a baseball through a window and no one is there to see what happened, it would be tempting to simply say they had nothing to do with it. Being able to tell the truth and understanding that with every choice, every decision, there is a consequence whether good or bad, is what sets a truth teller apart from a liar. Being honest takes confidence and an internal value system. Honesty is Asset No. 29 of the 40 Developmental Assets, the building blocks of healthy development that help young people grow up healthy, caring, and responsible.
It is not difficult to build honesty into a young person’s core values if you model honesty yourself. Each time you make up a white lie or go all out and make up something completely untrue, young people are watching and listening. Even more noteworthy in their minds will be all the times you stood up and admitted when you did something wrong, or simply told the truth even when it would not benefit you in any way. Talk to young people when you see others model honesty and stress how much you admire that quality in others.
Help the young person in your life to write honesty into each and every chapter of their book. The confidence they will gain by living an honest life will lead them to even greater wisdom. A wisdom that the truth will set them free; there are choices and consequences along their journey and that by living with integrity others will have a greater respect for them.
This article was brought to you by Aroostook Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP). For more information and resources, go to asapcoalition.com.
