Just recently I found myself in the position of having been accused of being paid to say something nice about someone. Now, I’m no stranger to being insulted. After being a police officer for more than three decades I can honestly say that I’ve been insulted a few times. In fact, I remember a time when a guy cussed me so well in Spanish that I had to ask him to repeat it in English just so I could decide whether or not I should be upset (me no hablo Espanol). Still, since I spend so much time behind this computer typing and there are a great many people (based on feedback emails) who depend on what I “say,” I got fairly upset about it being suggested that I sold my opinion. That particular situation was addressed, but the whole thing led me to ponder the value of integrity and how personal integrity affects our lives.
I remember being a little boy (maybe six or seven years old) and coming home from school to tell my dad that one of my schoolmates had called my mother a bad name. I clearly remember my father looking down at me and saying, “If you’re not telling me why you got in trouble for fighting then I don’t want to hear what people called your mother.” I didn’t understand. He had to explain. If someone insulted my mother, in his mind and from his viewpoint, that was a good reason for me to fight. I had to think about that.
Here I am, an unspecified number of years later – but obviously over 51 since I cited my more-then-30-years-of-police-experience above – and Lord knows that if someone insults my mother it isn’t…
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The remainder of this essay can be found in the book “Farther Down The Road”
Farther Down the Road – Where does your life’s road lead?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTJ1B2QR