EDITORIAL: Honesty is always the best policy

Staff Editorial

“Tell the truth and don’t be afraid.”

It is the motto we at The Daily Eastern News live by and will uphold with our reporting.

Being truthful is a great virtue to have and live by.

After all, it is the very thing the president of Illinois is famous for (Honest Abe).

Even the first president of the United States has a famous myth about him chopping down a little tree and coming clean to his father.

If only we were all as honest as this country’s presidents tried to be.

Telling the truth really is a good thing to do and something that is important.

It is also an important way for society in a larger sense to function better. You overslept and were late to work; just tell your boss the truth.

Do not do what all the television protagonists do and lie about a doctor’s appointment. Just ripping off the band-aid and getting it out of the way is better than facing a worse punishment for lying.

More than that, the truth is what will set you free and solve problems that may be too big for just you to worry about.

The truth is what uncovers the wrongs of the world and sets them right. We need the truth in order to further advance ourselves as human beings and as a society.

“You can’t handle the truth,” Jack Nicholson tells you. It may be that what is the real deal could be intense and even damning, but the truth is never something to not be handled by someone.

No matter who is involved and what the lie or cover-up is, the truth is the only thing to set something or someone involved in it free.

We all know how refreshing it feels to get a big report done two minutes before it is due and send it off just in time; that is the same feeling telling the truth brings about, like you did a good thing because you did do a good thing.

And we know how difficult it can be sometimes, especially when friends are involved, because you promised to keep a secret.

And we know some truths are hard to tell because of the complexity or the sensitivity of it, but maybe the complexity or the sensitivity of it is exactly why it deserves to be known.

We want to make sure everyone feels that they can tell the truth because it really is a good thing to do. More than that, though, it is an important thing for us all to do.

“Tell the truth and don’t be afraid.”

We have been doing it for more than 100 years. You can do it, too.