April 30 – Honesty Day in the U.S.A.

nPostednon April 30, 2014

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Anwriter named M. Hirsh Goldberg was writing a book called The Booknof Lies: Fibs, Tales, Schemes, Scams, Fakes, and Frauds that HavenChanged the Course of History and Affect Our Daily Lives.

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nHenwas so bummed at the negative effects of all the lies he was writingnabout, he decided to declare April 30 Honesty Day. Why that day?nGoldberg figured that April begins with the Fool’s Day, which isnoften full of tricks, pranks, and for-fun lies – so it should benbalanced out by ending with a holiday celebrating honesty in all ofnits forms.

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nTherenare lies and there are lies…

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Ofncourse, there are such things as “white lies,” which are thenpolite untruths people tell in order to help everyone get along. Whennyour mom asks you, “Does this dress make me look fat?” you don’tnwant to say “yes,” no matter what. But there are more honest waysnof dealing with tricky situations. In this example, if your momnhasn’t bought an unflattering dress yet, you could say, “Well, it’s not thenmost flattering on you. The others you tried on, honestly,nlook better.” If your mom HAS bought the dress and you are halfwaynto a party, you would say something completely different. Maybensomething like – “Oh, gosh, Mom, you always look nice. I just loventhe color of this dress – it’s so flattering to your skin!” Innother words, you don’t have to be blunt and insulting, but you don’t have to completely lie; instead youncan find something you like to honestly and kindly comment on.

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nAnothernkind of lie we often don’t count as a lie is called the “lie ofnomission.” You don’t say a lie, because you don’t saynanything at all. You either don’t correct someone’s incorrectnassumption, or you don’t come forward with important information.nOnce again there are many situations that are tricky AND sticky…nBut most of the time, coming forward with the truth is better thannsitting around quietly benefitting from the assumptions or ignorancenof others.

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Here’snan example: Let’s say that a blind student named Sharon accidentallynbroke the collectible Star Wars figure that Barry took to school andncarelessly left on the playground. If Barry complains to his momnabout the the breakage without mentioning the circumstances, andnallows his mom to go to school with a complaint about Sharon, that’sndefinitely a lie of omission. He left out some pretty importantnparts! n

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nHere’snanother example: Let’s say that Carla borrowed her sister’s iPod andnthen lost it. That day, Carla’s sister happened to have a whole bunchnof friends over, so when that evening the sister discovered that herniPod was missing, she assumed that one of her friends took it. IfnCarla doesn’t say anything to correct that mistaken assumption,nthat’s a really bad lie of omission!

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nGoldbergnwrote in his Book of Lies that the average person lies aboutn200 times a day, if you count lies of omission and white lies. TWOnHUNDRED! Yikes! We can all do better than that.

n(Hmm…I’m not sure Inbelieve it. I think that maybe one to five lies daily is more likely, even counting lies of omission and polite fudgings-of-the-truth.)

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Former President Richard M. Nixon
was caught covering up wrong-doing
AND lying about it.

nThensorts of lies that Goldberg wrote about in his book were about lies told by or tonpowerful people. We should all hold our politicians and other powerful people accountable for their lies, and call attention to those who tell the truth.

nGoldberg gives out Honesty Awards every April 30, choosingncompanies, organizations, groups, and individuals who have acted honestly.

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nAlsonon this date:

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