Assume that you saved the life of a leprechaun, and in gratitude, he said he would give you one wish of your choice.  You could be very smart, enormously rich, remarkably good-looking, unusually strong and athletic, highly creative an artistic, or possess extraordinary character.  What would you choose?  You and I might both know of people who are smart, rich, good-looking, strong, athletic, creative, or artistic but they have horrible character.  Sure they have some of the “things” people around us focus on but remember that there is no U-haul behind the hearse.  Are these material possessions or physical attributes what you want to be remembered for?  There is a cartoon picturing a man checking in with the gatekeeper of heaven, who has a large book in front of him  He says: “Edward the Good, huh?  Well, Eddie, we’ll be the judge of that.”  Hopefully by reading everything in this book you have reached the conclusion that character really does count.  And in the end that is all that will count. If you want more then read about Alfred Nobel.  His brother prematurely released his death notice to a newspaper. The notice described him as a brilliant chemist who made a great fortune as the inventor of dynamite.  Nobel was devastated that he was being remembered in this way.  Determined to leave a more positive legacy, he bequeathed his considerable wealth to the establishment of the Nobel Prizes.  A wake-up call comes in many forms.

POWER QUESTIONS

• What gives you a sense of security in life?
• Can the things you chose be taken away?
• How can it be that some people who have lots of material possessions are very insecure?

Your behavior in the form of actions is priceless.  Your behavior is usually what gets you into trouble, not usually your words.  And it’s your behavior that will get you out of trouble. As a result, people will need to see you “demonstrate” actions that may earn back their trust in you.  I say “may earn back their trust” because that is a decision they make, not you.  They’re in control of that decision, not you. Sure it may take time to earn back trust but that is the price one pays for dishonest actions. The reason we have another day in our life is to move on and learn from where we have been the day before.  You can choose to learn from each day and each experience and carve out a path for better choices to be made the next day.  The path to being trusted usually begins with the new decision to make the right choices today.  Ralph Waldo Emerson said “To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful.”  Making the right choices from this point forward has a better chance of influencing others than anything else. 

POWER QUESTIONS

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of each position?
• Once trust has been broken, what can you do to get it back?
• Have you ever lost someone’s trust?
• Has someone lost your trust?

Have you ever been in a theater trying to watch a movie and someone is talking or acting in a disturbing way?  How about when you’re trying to eat at a restaurant and someone is being obnoxious at a table nearby?  How about people in public places who use vulgar language?  Does it bother you?  Do you think it bothers others wanting to watch the movie or eat?  Respectful people use good manners and are considerate of others.  Part of using good manners is to be respectful of other people living their lives the way they want to. The true definition of responsibility is making choices in your own life that do not interfere with other people. Part of our own responsibility in life is to be conscious of others around us when making the choices we do. When in a public place like a movie theater, restaurant, auditorium, mall and the like, be conscious of other people and their privacy.  Keep your voice and your behavior at a level that is appropriate. Believe it or not, you have control over what comes out of your mouth. Your lips are in your control. Let’s agree that everything is legal in your mind-it is what you choose to say or do that gets you into trouble. These are good habits to get yourself into.  Some call it respect.  Some just say it’s the right thing to do.

POWER QUESTIONS

Is it all right for students to cheat in the classroom as long as the teacher doesn’t catch them?  This leads to another question: Is it all right to do things even when you know you might not get caught?  Let’s say that you find a cell phone at school.  Is this where "Finders keepers, losers weepers" should come into play? Or should you turn it into the Lost and Found office?  When you see that a dollar bill falls out of the pocket of the person ahead of you, do you say something to them?”  Would your answer change if it were a $20 bill?  How about if it were a $100 bill? The value of the found property is important ethically and practically. The more it’s worth, the more the loser is likely to suffer from its loss and the more likely it is that the owner will make efforts to recover it. This imposes a higher duty on the finder. If you lost the cell phone, how important would it be to you to get it back? If you lost the money, how important would it be to you to get it back?  Would the denomination determine your answer? What’s at play here is a form of the Golden Rule.  At the center core of ethics and good character is caring for others.  Along with this caring comes the willingness on our part to go out of our way to bring pleasure into someone’s life or to ease their pain.

POWER QUESTIONS

• Have you ever found something that was not yours and you kept it?
• How did you justify keeping it?
• What if you were the owner, how would you feel if you knew someone kept what was yours?