“To thine own self be true…”

“To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man,” (William Shakespeare, Hamlet).  Shakespeare’s verse is a direction from a father to his son, to be true to one’s own conscience, and as sure as the sun setting each evening, honesty will rule in all relationships. 

Honesty is certainly one of those traits we admire in others.  As parents and teachers, our days are full of opportunities to teach and model honesty for our children and students.  The very youngest among us can learn what it means to speak the truth by not exaggerating to make things seem different from what they really are.  Admitting when we have been wrong develops trust from others and produces confidence in ourselves.  Honesty is a foundational principle of Honorable Character. Practice it in your own life and look for it in others.

Honesty can sometimes be one of the harder traits for teachers to observe.  You may find times when you want to encourage your students to give honesty marks to each other on the recording chart.

DYK … Shakespeare’s use of language made a major impact on how we speak? Expressions such as, “break the ice” (The Taming of the Shrew), and “vanish into thin air” (Othello), have found their way into our modern everyday English.