Honesty
- What is Honesty?
- How are we Honest?
- Why should we practice the virtue of Honesty?
- When do we practice the virtue of Honesty?
What does honesty mean to you?
We are Memorizing The Prayer: Blessed is the spot
Blessed is the spot, and the house,
and the place, and the city,
and the heart, and the mountain,
and the refuge, and the cave,
and the valley, and the land,
and the sea, and the island,
and the meadow where mention
of God hath been made,
and His praise glorified
Memorize
“Beautify your tongues, O people, with truthfulness, and adorn your souls with the ornament of honesty.”
–Bahá’u’lláh
Meaning Of Words
Beautify
Malit planted beautiful roses in the garden. The roses beautify the garden.
Sunil used to tell lies, but now he only tells the truth. Sunil beautified his tongue with truthfulness.
Send a postcard to a friend
Story Of Honesty
Suggested props: Map of Iran, Letter, Official Order, debt, A big bag of money,
Mulla Bahram was a Baha’i who lived in Iran many years ago. One day, he received a letter that caused him great concern. His cousin had been jailed without justification. A few powerful individuals who wished his cousin ill had lodged a complaint against him and he had been arrested by police, even though he had committed no crime.
After reading the letter, Mulla Bahram thought deeply about this problem and decided to see a high government official to ask for help. When Mulla Bahram arrived at this official’s home, he found him at a feast with many of his guests. One of them who saw the poorly dressed man enter the doorway wanted to have him thrown out. But the owner of the house saw Mulla Bahram and with a great deal of love and respect, invited him to come in. All of the guests were surprised to thee the courtesy and warmth with which the official treated Mulla Bahram, a poor and humble man. The host explained, “The respect I feel towards Mulla Bahram is well deserved because he is a righteous and honest man, even in moments of tests.” Mulla Bahram explained his problem and with a great deal of pleasure, the official wrote out the order for his cousin’s immediate release. The guests were surprised and asked the official how he knew that Mulla Bahram was so honest that he merited such respect from a high government official. The official answered:
“Some time ago, I had a debt which I had to pay right away, but I didn’t have enough money. So I arrived at an agreement with the money-lender that he would receive a piece of property in exchange for the debt. However, we could not come to an agreement on the property’s value. We could not accept the judgment of a friend of his nor a friend of mine because each of us could have paid our friend to alter the property’s price in our favour. So we asked a merchant to send one of his employees to the property to put a value on it. He sent Mulla Bahram. To ensure that the property was worth enough to pay the entire debt, I went to him the day he was to value the property and offered him a big bag of money so that he would speak in my favour. He would not have earned that much money in six years of hard work, but he did not accept it. He said it was better to wait and see the property. It turned out that Mulla Bahram estimated the property at much more than what I had thought it was worth. So, I went to him and offered him a bag of much more money so he would be pleased. He did not take it this time either. He said that the only reason he had put that value on the property was that it was the true value. His appraisal was a part of his work, for which he received a salary, and it would not be right to receive anything extra for it.”
“Now,” said the official to his guests, “you can appreciate why I say that Mulla Bahran obsesses about honesty and integrity which is very rare these days. Oh if everyone could be as honest as Mulla Bahram!”
Another Story About Honesty
Suggested props: A Cane, Crutches, a horse, deer, a wallet filled with money, A package of food, a Crown for the Prince, a Sword for soldiers
The Miner and the Prince by Lamia El-Dajani retold and modified by Joan Jensen
Thomas was a miner who used to live with his family in a small house near the forest. One day, Thomas had an accident in the mine. His injuries prevented him from working in the mine. Life then became hard for him and his family. After his injuries began to heal, he started going to the forest to find a way to feed himself and his family.
One day Thomas was in the forest sitting beneath a tree when suddenly he heard the sound of horses running very fast. He saw the Prince riding a horse and behind him a group of soldiers on their horses. They were chasing after a deer. As they disappeared and the forest became quiet again, he saw something on the path that the horses had galloped across. He picked up the object and found it was a very fine leather wallet. The Prince’s name was embossed in gold on the front of the wallet. He slowly opened the wallet and saw a large amount of money. Thomas remained where he was in the forest, waiting for the Prince and his soldiers to return so he could give back the wallet. Slowly it became dark. As the night grew later and there was no sign of the Prince, Thomas decided to return home.
On the long walk home, Thomas continued thinking about the money. He thought, “This money belongs to the Prince, and should be returned to him.” As he continued walking, he thought, “But neither the Prince nor his soldiers returned for the money. Perhaps they don’t realize it is lost.” After a few more steps, “Maybe because the Prince is so rich, looking for it would be a waste of his time, and he won’t even bother, he won’t even miss it. And my family is so much in need. We are hungry, my children need clothes, and the roof needs to be repaired. I found it, I could keep it for my family, and no one would even know. ” As he walked further, thinking about all the things he could buy for his family with this money, he thought, “And no one would know. No one would know. No one would know.” Then he stopped suddenly, realizing, “I would know. And my wife would know. And God would know!” But how was he to return it to the Prince? The capital city was a very long walk away. He would need food for the journey, and his family had very little food to spare. His clothes were shabby. Perhaps he would not be allowed into the royal castle. It would be hard, to be honest. It would be so easy just to keep the money. And so his thoughts kept turning round and round on the long walk home.
When he arrived home later than usual, his wife Elizabeth hurried to meet him, asking about his day. He excitedly told her what had happened and showed her the wallet. “What should I do?” he asked her. Elizabeth also saw the dilemma, and said, “Our children are hungry. The money is enough to feed our family for several months. No one would know.” And they looked at each other in love and concern. “We must pray for guidance,” his wife declared. And immediately they sat down together, opened one of their books, and read the following words.
Husband and wife looked at each other, and with a sigh, his wife said, “It is now clear what we must do. The only thing yet to decide is how we will do this.” Thomas and Elizabeth made preparations far into the night. Thomas packed food to take on the journey. Elizabeth washed and patched his one suit of clothes, so he would be more presentable when meeting the Prince. And in the morning, Thomas set off on his journey. When he reached the palace, the guards stopped him at the gate and prevented him from entering to meet the Prince. He had no appointment, and from his shabby clothes, they knew he was not a rich or important man. They asked him why he wanted to meet the Prince, but he refused to tell them the reason. Thomas had heard that people in the capital city were not always honest, and he was worried if he handed the wallet to the guards, they would keep the money for themselves. So he just insisted, “I must meet with the Prince. I will not leave without seeing him!” The guards began to shout at him to leave and push him away from the gate. Suddenly Thomas saw the Prince himself, mounted on his fine horse, approach the gate to leave for the day. Thomas threw himself in front of the horse and called to the Prince, “A word with you, my beloved Prince!” The Prince paused, and Thomas drew the wallet from his coat and handed it to the Prince. The Prince looked very surprised and asked Thomas where he had found it. Thomas told him the story of the previous day in the forest. The Prince then opened the wallet. Everyone could see that he was astonished to find all the money there, untouched. The Prince asked Thomas, “Why didn’t you take the money?” and Thomas replied, “I cannot take something that does not belong to me.” A gleam of respect appeared on the Prince’s face, and he was quiet for a moment, thinking. Then he turned to Thomas and said, “Would you come and serve in my court, and work for me? I can use an honest man, someone I can trust, to do the work of the kingdom.”
Square, Circle, Triangle
It is assumed that the children know the names of at least a few shapes, for instance, “square”, “circle”, and “triangle”. Begin by reviewing the names of these shapes with the children, making sure that they can identify each one. Next, hold up a card on which you have drawn a sequence of three shapes – and tell them to look at it closely. Then put the card away and ask one of the children to say the sequence out loud. You should do this several times, using cards on which you have drawn a variety of sequences beforehand.
An Experiment
Here is an experiment to try to help illustrate Honesty
This video is also helpful
Based on Quote
Based on the quote for the class make a large mouth puppet. Decorate the tongue with truthfulness.
Download the template here
“Beautify your tongues, O people, with truthfulness, and adorn your souls with the ornament of honesty.”
–Bahá’u’lláh
To make a puppet
- download and print the puppet color in
- Download the quote, the quote is under the tongue!
The above was fashioned after this one on this website.
Instructions on website
Note that my template just folds in half. the rest of the instructions apply.
Make Ornament of Honesty:
Here
- First, we made individual trays of salt dough – equal parts salt, flour, and water.
- Once their dough was sufficiently mixed, they pressed it onto pieces of cardboard.
- Cut into a shape of your choice
- Decorate with beads etc.
- Punched a hole to hang their ornaments,
- Air dry them at home.
Foundation Craft
Cut and paste Truthfulness is the foundation of all human Virtues
Honesty Badge
Make a superhero badge of honesty
Template here
Leave a Reply