Persuasive speech topics on TRUTHFULNESS
“Truthfulness” means factual accuracy, or exactitude in speech. So, a truthful person is one who never deviates from the actual details of facts when he speaks about it. In other words, he is a person who never tells a lie. The word “honesty” has awider meaning: it includes both factual accuracy in speech and trustworthiness in one’s dealings with other people. So, an honest person is one who never tells lies, never cheats, never steals. Honesty and truthfulness are virtues that ennoble a person and enhance his dignity as a human being.
Absolutely honest men are unfortunately very rare. Most people tell lies, occasionally atleast, for varios reasons. Children tell lies to escape punishments. Criminals tell lies for the same reason. Some people tell lies for self-glorification. Many people tell lies for material advantage or financial benefit. Some people are instinctive liars, who have an inner compulsion to tell lies. A few people are kleptomaniacs who have an irresistable inner urge to steal things, though they do not need them.
The proverb, “Honesty is the best policy”, seems to suggest that the practice of honesty is aimed at material gains. The word “policy” seems to suggest expediency rather than morality, as it could mean “craftiness” or “unscrupulousness”. But a truly honest person practises honesty because that is the morally right thing to do. In business dealings, dishonesty may sometime bring in financial gains. But this does not justify dishonesty, which, by its very nature, is immoral.
In the long run, even in business it is honesty that ensures ultimate success. For a businessman who has a reputation for honesty will naturally attract customers and his business will grow and flourish.