I’m posting almost two days late this week. Here’s part of the reason: when I signed on to open my page on this website, I got a message window that wouldn’t let me proceed any further. It looked suspicious, offering me steps to take that would “correct” the problem, but it asked for information that I didn’t think was necessary to recover my blog page. So I did what any self-respecting non-techy person would do. I contacted my son, who later informed me that it should be up and running again, which it is, as you can see, thank you, Captain Obvious.
So, I’m tempted to say that the posting is coming here on Wednesday instead of Tuesday because of that technical glitch. But, I’m not yielding to that temptation because, as I said in my opening comment, that’s only part of the reason.
The other part is that I never thought about my blog yesterday until almost time to go to bed. I was emailing my sister when the light dawned. She can tell exactly when that moment was, because I wrote, “My big project was finishing two cartoons (OMG — I just realized that I never wrote my blog this morning!! AAaarrrrgghhhh! And right after I mentioned it to the ‘MMM’ list! Just my luck, right?)” I realized that I had gotten so caught up in other pursuits that it never occurred to me that it was Tuesday, and I hadn’t written.
So, in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I never even tried to write yesterday. Perhaps there would not have been a problem if I had been punctual with my Tuesday morning discipline, and I would be writing about something more interesting and substantial right now.
The point of this little diversion is to say that I realize how easy it would have been to hide behind the technical glitch and use that as an excuse for why I’m posting late this week. But there’s this little issue of honesty. It would not have been totally honest for me to use this site’s problems as my reason for being late, even though it became part of the problem this morning, keeping me from posting any earlier today. A totally honest reason would require my including my forgetfulness as well.
All that to say, I hope I can always be honest in all my dealings, and not just the comparatively little ones. It’s easier to return a quarter to someone than it is to return a $50 bill. Sometimes our honesty does have its price. But if we’re going to strive to be honest — really honest — people, we have to practice that virtue in all circumstances.
“And that,” as they say, “ain’t easy.”
Is there anyone who can say that he or she has never done even the tiniest dishonest thing in their entire life? I’d like to meet you, because I’m in the vast, vast majority of human beings who (this is so embarrassing to admit) have, on occasion, not been totally honest with others, and it would be an honor to meet a perfectly honest person.
But that’s OK. I think it’s more important to recognize and name those times when a measure of dishonesty has pulled us off the straight and narrow than it is to try to convince ourselves that we’re more honest than we really are. There’s no virtue in that. In fact, it’s just another kind of dishonesty.
So, I’m happy that I got that off my chest and let you know that, even though I was tempted to make an excuse for being late in posting, I resisted it because it wasn’t the total truth. And I, therefore, hope that little exercise contributes to my ability to continue being honest in all my future dealings.