The Perks of Honesty

When I was younger, I constantly lied to try to cover my tracks and avoid the consequences, but 9 times out of 10 I got caught. I was always afraid to admit that I had done something wrong, because I knew that my actions had consequences that I wouldn’t like. Rather than doing the right thing and telling the truth, I chose to lie and attempt to hide what had happened. As I grew older and more mature, I realized that being honest is the proper way to handle almost any situation.

During sophomore year, I got a detention in French class for throwing a water bottle at another student. I talked to the teacher afterward, and found a way to serve the detention without my parents having to know about it. A couple days later, my sister Alisha and her friend Sydney convinced me that I should be honest about my wrongdoings and tell my dad about what happened. I was terrified to tell my father what I had done, because I was afraid that he would get upset. Once I explained what had happened, he simply said “Thank you for being honest. Just smarten up a bit,” and sent me on my way. Since then, I’ve stopped being afraid to admit my mistakes, and I own up to them instead.

While sometimes I may still get in trouble for doing the stupid things I do, I’ve come to learn that being honest and owning up to my faults usually helps the situation. On the other hand, I found that trying to hide things only gets me in more trouble and makes my parents and friends less likely to trust me.