Time for the gratitude award, once again. Why is telling the truth so hard, while lying, and its cousins, cheating and stealing are rewarded - in the short term. A reader poll on Answer.Yahoo came up with the following statement on why telling the truth is so hard: because a lie tells you what you want to hear, but the truth tells you what you need to know.

"We tell lies when we are afraid... afraid of what we don't know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger." - Tad Williams; but, "You can't hide your lyin' eyes, And your smile is a thin disguise" (the Eagles).

It is an age-old enigma. We are scornful of those we perceive to be lying; we have no respect for those who can never bring themselves to be truthful; we may even argue that while we know they are lying, it really doesn't matter.

In a bi-polar fashion, we impose sanctions on liars, sometimes, directly, sometimes implicitly. Is this reaction a subliminal backlash because we may be ashamed, that maybe, just maybe, we can just as easily step off the same path?

If friends, family, and community shun those who deceive because they cannot be trusted, what's left?

Hanging around with the same type of lying folks, never being able to trust anyone? We humans are for the most part trusting decent people. We will give just about everyone the benefit of the doubt - at least the first time around, possibly a second.

We will extend trust, settling for explanations that embrace half-truths, distortions of the truth, exaggerations of facts, and down right blatant lies - up to a certain degree. The tipping point comes when someone's reputation is slandered, or someone is hurt financially. Truth is the only thing that counts.

Telling the truth MAKES A DIFFERENCE. Isn't that what our Momma's always said? Is truth equal to trust? You bet.

Is truth equal to fiscal accountability, sovereign responsibility, social justice, and good governance? You bet.

An economy foundering on lies, dishonesty, lack of accountability, and disregard for any ethical standards, is no economy at all. It is a sham. Sooner or later, when the real truth (read where the real money is, or lack thereof) comes to light, a shadow economy will crumble.

It is of vital national interest that integrity, honesty, ethics - all are employed to manage the affairs of a country because economies, finances, laws, and justice, yes, justice are based on the truth of the matter.

Imagine if every time you received your bank statement, it had different set of numbers on it, none ever matched, or correlated to your previous statements. How would you feel? Worse, yet, how would you know where your money was and how much it is worth?

Financial statements have to tell the truth of the matter, for the value at that time, verifiable by an independent third party custodian.

Let's picture a different scenario. You purchase a home with the assumption that transferring the property along with your hard earned cash from the former owner to yourself has validity. The entire process is a mirage.

Someone makes off with the cash, the property never changes hands. There was no intergrity; there was no truth. Trust in the process was betrayed. Multiply this debacle (or similar versions) and what do you have?

We've been witnessing it the effects for the last three years – from unscrupulous real estate agents, mortgage market vendors, and the like. An impure example of the lies, compounded. Integrity is the backbone of a modern democratic society. Integrity is vital to the operations of a country.

Integrity is truth.

An ethical question arises: if telling the truth is so valuable, why are truth tellers (whistleblowers) punished? Is the truth so harmful?

It is a known statistic that famous whistleblowers have often sacrificed everything, their lives ruined after the truth has been disclosed.

The courageous acts they have committed in the name of truth and public good can never compensate them for these very personal losses.

Journalists, the world over, whose very professional responsibility is to report the facts (the truth) have had their employers financially compromised, while they (and their families) have been personally threatened, maimed, and in horrific cases, killed, just for doing their job. Do these people ever look back and think, "knowing what I know now, is telling the truth worth it?"

The brave and true continue to do what is right. He who upholds the truth is an honourable man. It is the most basic and noblest of virtues.

Be truthful in what you do, what you say, and who you are. Never betraying your principles.

Moneywise column started an annual gratitude day several years ago. The award is certainly informal with no money for a trophy or an expensive self-congratulatory event, just a mention in a humble column.

The first award was given to the exempt company industry here in Bermuda in 2008. At that time, I urged everyone who wanted to think about where their next paycheque came from (directly or indirectly) to just take the time to call the switchboard of any exempt company and say thank you. A few brave souls did.

We are in the midst of a very, very tough time in our country. Telling the truth so that we know where we are and what we have to do on a personal financial basis to work our way through this recession is dramatically important. When you know the worst, you can plan going forward to achieve the best.

This year's gratitude award for telling the truth in the tough times, knowing that she won't be winning any popularity contest soon, is awarded to our Auditor General, Heather Jacobs Matthews. Need I say more?

Sources: Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life, by Sissela Bok, 1999; The Truth about Lying: Why and How We all do it and What to Do About It, by Gini Graham Scott

Martha Harris Myron is an international Certified Financial Planner™ practitioner in private wealth management. She specialises in independent fee-only cross border financial planning for investment, tax, estate, and strategic retirement services for Bermuda residents with cross-border and multi-national connections, and US citizens living abroad. She is a Masters in Law candidate in International Tax and Finance. For more information, contact martha.myron@gmail.com">martha.myron@gmail.com or 735-4720