Yesterday my son was telling me that he did not get on the Student Council at school. The teacher who made the decision told him that the essay he submitted was not what they were looking for. That got me thinking about how people try to present themselves.
My son said that in his essay he talked about how the Student Council should have a Prime Minister instead of a President. He also thinks they should be tougher on rule breakers. Some of the things he was telling me were a bit out there but everything he said was purely who he is. He wrote the essay with his honest opinions about how the Council should work. I assume that the teacher thought Dima would be more trouble than help. Maybe so.
I am not saying that the teacher made the wrong decision. Dima can be exasperating at times. I wonder how many other kids were as honest in their essays. If everyone was completely honest with their thoughts about what they would do if elected would they have been selected?
The purpose of writing the essay is to give the teacher a basis to judge the character of the individual. However, some people may be tempted to write what they think the teacher wants to hear. The goal may be to get selected as opposed to answering the questions honestly.
How many politicians in our country are like this? It feels like we never really know what a politician will do until after they are elected. "I will not raise taxes.", said George Bush. He did anyway. "I will close Gitmo.", said Obama. It's still open. Granted, keeping some of these promises may be impossible after the election for various legitimate reasons but we tend to not believe people after awhile.
What about the rest of us? According to Statistics Brain, 78% of resumes are misleading. Are people being honest or just trying to tell people what they want to hear to get a job? Sounds more like the latter then the former.
What about honesty and integrity? We seem to have little of it from top to bottom in this country. Even in schools. We encourage people to conform rather than be real. Does that conformity benefit society? Do politicians do the right thing after getting elected? Do job seekers rise up to the company's expectations after getting hired. Do the Student Council members learn anything about leadership? I hope so, but it does not appear to be that way.
Maybe we would be better off with honest people who did the right things for the right reasons. John Kennedy's "Profiles In Courage" has several examples of people who did just that. What if we all started living according to our convictions? Would we have a better society or anarchy? Would we get rid of partisan politics and start making real change or become hopelessly mired in indecision?
One thing I know for sure is that if Christians always acted with conviction the world would be a better place. Let's all do our part to act with it integrity. Let's all have the courage to do the right thing despite the cost. Let's be real.
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