It has been said, “Make sure your sins will uncover you.” And nothing reveals his sinful behavior better than a child. There are so many cases where babies have revealed the illustrious actions of parents, and rarely a good deed will go unpunished, if a child has witnessed it. That is the point of this message.
“For children to take morality seriously, they must be in the presence of adults who take morals seriously. And with their own eyes they must see that adults take morals seriously.”
– William J. Bennett
A child often observes his parents to find the value or behavior of moral choice.
When my daughter was about four years old, we walked out of a grocery store and I realized that she had bought some gum that she had ordered. He had said “no” but she really wanted that gum. We went back to the store and I told the manager that he had taken the gum. He shook his head dismissively and pointed her in the direction of the mop they used to sweep the floors. He had to pay for his mistake.
My four-year-old son pushed that heavy mop up and down the aisles of the store, carefully guarding the products stacked in the aisles, for over twenty minutes to pay for that penny gum. I followed her closely to make sure nothing was damaged and to help her when the broom got heavy, but she was pushing her load alone.
Twenty-seven years later, he walked into the grocery store and noticed that the pastor’s wife was eating grapes from the produce. Shocked, she ran and asked the woman if she didn’t realize it was robbery. The woman carefully explained that she always tasted grapes and had never thought of it as a robbery, because the shop owners expect customers to nibble. But the thought crossed his mind.
A few days later, the pastor’s wife appeared at our door, my daughter was visiting and the lady asked my daughter to forgive her. He also explained that after seeing my daughter in the store, she felt bad and went to ask the grocer. He said that they had been forced to increase the price of the produce to cover the cost of grazing for customers, and no, it was not expected, the shopkeepers consider it a theft.
A few years later, there was another situation where a child stole some candy and the father reacted. Another broom was found and the shop owner watched the girl sweep the floors to earn payment for the sweets she had taken.
With what code of ethics do you live? Are you willing to go the extra mile to make sure your actions are ethical and of a high moral standard?