Honesty and Tolerance - Super 7

 All about honesty

Rajesh had been patiently waiting for his turn to bat during his CCA class. Finally, after his teammate Siddharth was bowled out, Rajesh got to enter with his bat. His face clearly portrayed his joy. Two balls later, Rajesh suddenly started to walk out, much to the surprise of his friends. When asked, he stopped and said, “I am out. I had edged the ball”. He had been caught behind by the wicket keeper but his opponents hadn’t realised that the bat had touched the ball. Their teacher who was closely monitoring the kids had noticed how happy Rajesh had been to finally get to bat. He called him aside, and asked him about it. The child, unhesitatingly stated, “I follow Sachin Tendulkar. He is my idol.” The teacher nodded with a smile. We all remember how the Little Master would leave the pitch if he had edged the ball, without even waiting for the opponent team to make an appeal.

The teacher felt elated to have such an honest child in her class and when she shared the incident with us, it immediately brought a smile on our faces. Honesty, we believe, is a mirror of one’s own self- a genuine portrayal of one’s soul. It is important that we inculcate the value of honesty right from childhood. This is one value, which if imbued, will help the child walk forever on the path of truth and righteousness. Children learn a lot by emulation; hence it is important that we lead not by words, but by examples. To be honest with others, we must first be honest with our own selves. This is not always easy. All of us face situations where it would be easier to be dishonest. But it takes a great deal of moral courage to resist such temptations. A reputation as an honest, trustworthy and reliable person is precious and rare in this world. Each of us has the opportunity to build such a reputation. True, some people may make fun of us for being honest but there will definitely be others who will appreciate it. Being honest in all things will give us a clear conscience and peace of mind.

In this regard, one of our group shared another incident. She had made it mandatory for students to finish eating their tiffins before going out to play during the lunch break. A child, who hadn’t done so, walked up to the teacher and said, “Ma’am I have finished eating. May I go out to play?” The teacher nodded and gave him the permission. However, she was surprised to see the boy return after two minutes. The child admitted that there was a part of the chapatti which he hadn’t eaten. He felt guilty for telling a lie. He apologized to his teacher, ate quickly and ran out to play. Such incidents do fill our hearts with joy and bring about a certain respect for our pupils. There was a time when one of us encountered another event which taught her that honesty and respect go hand in hand. She was distributing the answer scripts of a weekly test when a child came up and pointed out that she had been given two extra marks. She even went on to request the teacher not to appreciate her in front of the class as she felt that she has done nothing more than her duty. Such firm demonstration of integrity and dutifulness fill us with awe and respect for our students.

Super 7 @ Billabong High International School, Thane 
-Sayantani Mukherjee, Dimple Awasthi, Ritu Chitnis, Manjusha Saji, Jyoti Ramdhave, Vijaylaxmi Ramesh, Sumati Muthukumar