Thought of the Day 09.04.09

If there is a more deeply embedded contaminant in me than dishonesty, I don’t know what it might be. I’ve spent my entire Christian life trying to dig it out at the root, and I’m constantly stunned by how invasively tangled into me its tendrils are

Just this morning, I walked into the office and saw our new sales coordinator, whom I had met once just two days before. I wanted to greet her and chat a bit, but I couldn’t remember her name. So my instinctive impulse was to go check the updated staff list on my desk or ask a coworker. But why was I so reluctant to merely approach her and say, “Hi, please tell me your name again?”

Obviously, because I wanted that additional mote of esteem that comes from seeming like the sort of person who remembers your name. In other words, I wanted to deceive this new acquaintance into the impression that I’m better than I am, a practice so common that recruiting accomplices is easy. Instead, I voted for honesty and simply asked her.

One tiny little tendril removed, probably only a thousand or so to go.