EDITORIAL

Honesty For Everybody

Honesty means thoughts, words and actions with no contradictions or discrepancies. It is never to misuse anything which is given in trust. Honesty to one’s own self and to the purpose of a task, earns trust, and inspires faith in others.

Honesty is a clear conscience before one’s self and before other man or woman. Honesty is the knowledge of what is right and appropriate to one’s role, behaviour and relationship.

It is clear conscience before one’s self and his fellow human beings. There is no hypocrisy or artificiality which creates confusion and mistrust in the minds and lives of other people. It makes for a life of integrity since the inner and outer selves are mirror images.

Honesty acts as the stain remover. If internally there is attachment to a person, object or idea, that attachment poses an obstacle to reality and objectivity. Action cannot be taken in the interest of the whole. Negativity of one’s nature, feeling or personality traits should not influence one’s internal state. Selfish motives, hidden agenda and negative feelings and habits are stains on the mirror of life.

Honesty to one’s real self and true to the purpose of a task earns trust and inspires faith among others. It requires sustained purity of motive and consistency of effort to sustain programs.

An honest person is one who aspires to follow the highest codes of conduct, who is loyal to the benevolent and universal principles of life. His decisions are based clearly on what is right and wrong.

Simply stated, any person who passes the 4-way test of the Rotary Club is an HONEST person.

Karma

A local farmer once said, "Be careful with your foolishness because that foolishness will return to your own body".

Without his knowledge perhaps, he simply meant "karma". The term karma was too often used ten years ago to cajole a friend or a relative to avoid doing foolish things because of Karma.

The Law of Karma states: "For every action, there is an equal or opposite reaction". Stated in other words, what one sows, one reaps; what one gives out to other people and the world, one gets back in equal amount. If one gives happiness, one receives happiness in return. If one gives sorrow, one receives sorrow in return. A person can neither hide from nor escape the consequence of his actions.

The natural and physical laws governing earth expose secret acts, punish every crime, reward every virtue and good act, and redress every wrong incognito with absolute certainty and precision. In Rotary lingo, "He who serves best profits most".

Karma when understood can awaken people to the significance of ones thought, word or action. The law of karma dictates that what we are experiencing now is the result of our actions. For instance, after unabated tree cutting and quarrying of sand and gravel at the Aklan river, what are we experiencing now? Of course, rapid erosion, floods, and other destructions but the bad affects us across the board over the action of a few. This is brought about by the inaction of the many.

By clearly defining the principle of abuse and effect, positive future directions of our own choice and making can be predicted. Performing pure beneficial actions creates that future. They say periodic evaluation and changing for the better ensure classic models on life’s superhighway and ensures safe arrival at one’s destiny. /MP