Michelangelo stands as one of the towering figures in the history of art. His majestic Frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and his masterful sculptures bear witness to his greatness. But he was a man never content to rest on his laurels. He spent countless hours on his back on the scaffolding in the Sistine, carefully perfecting the details of each figure. When a friend questioned such meticulous attention to detail on the grounds that “at that height who will know whether it is perfect or not?” Michelangelo’s simple response was, “I will.”
Four young men once competed vigorously to become head of the trust department at their bank. After considering the merits of each applicant, the board of directors made its decision. They decided to notify the young man of his promotion, including a substantial raise in salary, at a meeting scheduled after lunch.
During the noon hour, the young man they had selected went to the cafeteria for lunch. One of the directors was behind him in the line, separated by several other customers. The director saw the young man select his food, including a small piece of butter. As soon as he flipped the butter on to his plate, he immediately shuffled some food on top of it to hide it from the cashier. Thus, he avoided paying for it.
That afternoon, the directors met to notify the young man, but prior to bringing him into the room, the incident was told to the entire board. Rather than give the young man the promotion, they called him in to discharge him from the bank. They had concluded that if he was willing to lie to a cashier about what was on his plate, he would be just as willing to lie about what was in the bank’s accounts.
A young lay preacher was invited at the last minute to preach a sermon at a church in his city. On impulse, he used as his text one of the Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt not steal.” The next morning, he stepped on a bus and handed the driver a dollar bill. The driver handed him back his change and he moved to the rear of the bus. Glancing down to count the change before he pocketed it, the man noticed that the driver had given him a dime too much. His first thought was, the Bus Company would never miss a dime.
He quickly changed his mind, however, feeling conviction in his conscience that the dime didn’t belong to him and he needed to return it to the driver. He made his way to the front and said, “You gave me too much change,” and handed the man the dime.
To his surprise, the driver said, “Yes, I gave you a dime too much. I did it purposely. I heard your sermon yesterday and I was watching you in my mirror as you counted your change.”
Each morning, he stops to pick up the early edition of the newspaper at a small shop.
One morning when he got to work, he discovered that by mistake he had taken two newspapers instead of one. He first thought of paying the man the extra price the next morning, but then after a moment’s consideration, he said, “I had better go back with this paper. I don’t want the man at the shop to think I’m dishonest.” He got in his car, drove back to the store, and returned the paper.
About a week later, someone stole money from the shop. When police pinpointed the time it occurred, the shop owner remembered only two people being in the shop at the time – and one was the man that had returned a newspaper the previous week. The shop owner immediately dismissed him as a suspect, saying, “That man is really honest. He came all the way back here just to return a newspaper he took by mistake.” The police then focused their investigation on the other man, who soon made a full confession.
I remember reading the story of a young man who helps out in the family business every summer. On this particular day, he had planned a date with some of his friends, but it’s as if his father wants to ruin the day. His father had asked him to accompany him for a routine check on a finished job in the city.
“But dad, your crew already finished that floor”, he complained, as he helped him load the truck with flooring supplies. “It is not finished unless it is done right”, was his father’s quiet reply. As they entered the home, he looked around carefully to try to see just what exactly needed attention. The owners had hired them the previous week to instal hard wood floors throughout the main level and he was more than tired of piecing together little planks of wood. Entering what looked like a home office, his father saw the puzzled looks on his face. “Look here,” he said, as he pointed near a built-in bookshelf. “There is a warped plank that is beginning to crack. If we leave it the way it is, it will cause problems for the owner.” As they finished replacing the defective plank, he finally realized why his father’s business was so successful. And also learned a lesson no one will teach him at school.
Patrick Abubakar was a loyal carpenter who worked nearly two decades for a very successful contractor.
The contractor called him into his office one day and said, “Patrick, I’m putting you in charge of the next house we build. I want you to order all the materials and oversee the job from the ground up.” Patrick accepted the assignment with great enthusiasm. He studied the blueprints, checked every measurement and specification. Suddenly, he had a thought. If I am really in charge, why couldn’t l cut a few corners, use less expensive materials, and put the extra money in my pocket? Who will know? Once the house is painted, it will look great.
So, Patrick set about his scheme. He ordered second-grade lumber and in-expensive concrete, put in cheap wiring, and cut every corner he could. When the home was finished, the contractor came to see it.
“What a fine job you have done!” He said. “You have been such a faithful carpenter to me all these years that l have decided to show you my gratitude by giving to you as a gift this very house which you have built.” In Up From Slavery, Booker T. Washington, tells of an ex-slave from Virginia: “I found that this man had made a contract with his master, two or three years previous to the emancipation proclamation, to the effect that the slave was to be permitted to buy himself, by paying so much per year for his body; and while he was paying for himself, he was to be permitted to labour where and for whom he pleased.
“Finding that he could secure better wages in Ohio, he went there. When freedom came, he was still in debt to his master some three hundred dollars. Notwithstanding that the emancipation proclamation freed him from any obligation to his master, this black man walked the greatest portion of the distance back to where his old master lived in Virginia and placed the last dollar, with interest, in his hands.
You see, to create a lasting wealth, one must endeavour to build trust among the people he deals with, for without trust, no one will want to associate with you. And I believe you do know that everybody makes a living selling something to someone – whether it’s service, idea or a tangible product. People should be able to know you as an individual whose yes is yes and whose no is no. It was Mahatma Gandhi who said, “One man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole.”
Dear reader, don’t belong to those who say something else and do something else. You must make every sacrifice to walk your talk. Imagine what would’ve happened to the young preacher if he had not returned that change. All the things he said the previous day would’ve amounted to nothing. You should be able to live your life that even if no one is watching you, you will still do the right thing.
You must be a man of integrity. It’s sad to note that a lot of people try to cut corners. John Maxwell captures it this way, “Sadly, integrity is a vanishing commodity today. Personal standards are crumbling in a world that has taken to hot pursuit of personal pleasure and shortcuts to success.”
Dear reader, remember, right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone
is for it, so says William Penn.
Shalom!