Uplifting

I heard this story at a religious conference last year – made me think about things I’ve done in my life, and wondered whatthe “price tag” of any of my actions has been. Have I been willing to sellout, and how high (or low) was the price?

“Some 30 years ago, while working in the corporate world, some business associates and I were passing through O’Hare Airport in Chicago, Illinois. One of these men had just sold his company for tens of millions of dollars — in other words, he was not poor.

As we were passing a newspaper vending machine, this individual put a quarter in the machine, opened the door to the stack of papers in the machine, and begain dispensing upaid-for newspapers to each of us. When he handed me a newspaper, I put a quarter in the machine, and trying not to offend but to make a point, jokingly said ‘Jim, for 25 cents I can maintain my integrity. A dollar, questionable, but 25 cents — no, not for 25 cents.’

A few mintues later we passed the same newspaper vending machine. I noticed that Jim had broekn away from our group and was stuffing quarters in the vending machine. I tell you this incident not to portray myself as an unusual example of honesty, but only to emphasize the lessons…

There will never be honesty in the business world, in the schools, in the home, or anyplace else until there is honesty in the heart.”

– Richard C. Edgley, “Three Towels and a 25-cent Newspaper,” Ensign, Nov. 2006, 73-74

See, that’s the problem I have with pirated movies, music, or software. Some feel that their honor is cheaper than a song or a film. At the religious college I attented, we were required to sign an “honor code” every semester, binding ourselves contractually that we would be honest, morally clean, physically modest, abstain from all alchohol, tobacco, and caffeine. Yet I would read nearly every week about students that got caught shoplifting candybars, pantyhose, CD’s, lipstick, or books. CANDYBARS!?!?!? Is that all their honor was worth? On the digital side, I saw students’ MP3 libraries that numbered in the tens-of-thousands of files. And I call bullcrap if the owner had even bought 5% of that music….

It’s just staggering how morally cheap we’ve become. I don’t think we started that way. We are all intrinsically aware of the ‘value’ of our morals, but that awareness dulls over time, especially when neglected or outright abused. Simple example: we’ve seen the middle aged executives stone-faced and serious when they plead ‘not guilty’ to embezzlement and fraud, and we’ve all probably seen young kids collapse in tears when caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Integrity and honesty is implanted in us when we are young, and either is nurtured and grows, or is neglected and dies.

What would the world be like if we could gain back that sensitivity to the ‘value’ of our morals, if we could become aware of the price we pay when we do / say / think anything against our internal moral compasses. Do we even have a compass? Do YOU? What is your moral “north star”?