This I believe… by Jibril Washington
One core value that I hold dear to me is honesty. I believe honesty is the only way to truly achieve trust with people. In a way, it’s like credibility. You get credibility by being honest and up front about things and it’s also something us, journalist need to be when we write and report on stories. I’ve noticed not only in my life but other people lives as well that life is easier when you’re honest. In my life personally, one experience sticks out to me most. One time while I was playing football, I found myself falling down the depth chart and not doing the things I needed to do in practice.
So, one day my position coach asked me why I wasn’t doing so well on the field and I contemplated telling him the truth, being in direct or saying nothing. I figured that it would probably be best for me to tell him the truth because I wasn’t going to be able to keep the lie and I wanted to see if he could possibly help me. After telling him the truth of why I was not doing as well as I could’ve, instead of coming down on me and letting me continue to struggle, he explained to me what I needed to do to get back on track. He also told me that I should’ve told him earlier because he could’ve helped me a lot sooner. Afterwards, he began to help me with some of my school work that I had been struggling on and I started getting better at it. After a while I was able to focus on football and get better. The point is that, had I decided to lie or not say anything, I would’ve made things worse on myself and maybe even gotten into a lot of trouble. Being honest ended up getting me further than lying. Things in life go a lot smoother when you tell the truth. Lying has only put me in a deeper hole and at the end of the day the truth will come out at some point rather you want it to or not. Honesty has taken me a long way with people and with the things I want to achieve in my life. I have come to appreciate honesty as I get older and realize that it is the only way to succeed in life and build healthy relationships with people.