FIRST WINNING ENTRY

It was my first time  to join an online essay writing contest. I am a member of International Online Teachers Society over a year ago. International Online Teachers Society (IOTS) was established to improve online teachers qualification, to offer online job opportunities to member teachers and to share applied linguistics, language pedagogy and online, offline educational methodology for the mutual benefit of online, offline teachers in the world. The main activities of IOTS are video lecturing, issuing the certificate of online teachers and publishing global standard online text books to share with IOTSians and students for free of charge. IOTS is also providing free online educational sites contributed by IOTSians with all members of IOTS by posting them on IOTS fan pages.

  

 At first, I was so hesitant to join because I was really afraid since I knew for a fact that many teachers are good joining this contest. It was only during the 23rd edition of the competition that my courage has pushed me to do so. The topic was about "HONESTY". I always read the previous winners and I really found them well and good.

I would like to share my winning entry during the contest. "Be Honest"

We often hear and read this famous quote “Honesty is the best policy”. What is it for? Why do people try to utter and mark this quotation? Whether we like it or not, somehow in a certain point of time, we had encountered this one. If we look into its meaning, honesty is telling the truth. It’s very simple and clear. Honesty is being sincere, truthful, trustworthy, honorable, fair, genuine, and loyal with integrity. It is a very straightforward conduct for every person who wants to live a happy life.  If you are honest to yourself, you feel and react without guilt. You accept your responsibility and you don’t blame others. We evade the consequences of some mistakes and we put the blame to other people sometimes. This is very wrong. Be honest with your feelings. Telling a lie will not definitely help you. If you are considering lying, try to think the consequences later. Could you take the result of doing it? Some people will believe you, but you can’t hide the truth.
You are honest when you turn in a wallet full of money that you found. Don’t be a “finder’s keeper”. Turn in something that is lost and encourage others to do the same. The truth is, it’s not yours. You don’t own it. Find a way on how to return the wallet. Try to think the feelings of the person who lost his it. He really needs it to buy food, to pay his monthly bills, to pay his children’s tuition in school and the like. If you put the situation into your own shoes, what will you do? This question is so simple, however, it will enlighten your mind how honest are you in every situation. One thing that we should not forget when honesty is concerned, the way we express our feelings without anger, without blaming others, without exaggerating, without hurting the feelings of someone else. This is the spirit of truth to put honesty in action. In this way, we are proud to say that honesty echoes the hearts of every person. Be honest even if others are not because you will take the lead to be an example for them.
It is a fact that some people are honest and some are not. They are honest simply because they tell the truth and they make a commitment to do and honor it. A person becomes more truthful if he puts honesty into action. There are multiple reasons why should we tell the truth. First, telling the truth allows everyone to learn from what happened. Second, telling the truth protects innocent people from being blamed or punished. Then, telling the truth helps diminish the chances of misunderstanding, conflict and confusion. Finally, telling the truth makes you feel secure and peaceful inside. In short, be honest.

And this is my certificate ...

Aside from that, I also received a beautiful T-shirt from IOTS. I was so very delighted. People recognized my skill. Thank you IOTS!