Impeccable Honesty

I've been dealing with a lice infestation. About a month ago, my son's preschool posted a notice that there had been an incident of lice with one of the children.  When my son frantically started scratching his head, my mom became suspicious.  Sure enough - she found lice! As soon as I knew, I left work, picked him up, and immediately started doing what all parents do when this happens to them:  major disinfection, a lice treatment, and a drastic haircut.

Because misery loves company, I shared what had happened with several people.  Many of them empathized with me having gone through this themselves, and innocently suggested that I treat him and send him to school without saying a word about the incident.  There was a good chance that his school wouldn't let him back in before the Christmas break.  I didn't realize just how negative the stigma is associated with lice.  The irony with this is that almost everyone has gone through their own lice battles, and lice prefer clean hair over dirty hair.  Why are we so ashamed to talk about lice?  Why the lies about lice?  I was faced with a choice. Would I, too, tell lice lies?

We all know that half truths and anything but the truth are technically lies, but it seems harmless enough.  My integrity was being challenged, but I knew what to do.  If other parents had spoken up about the lice, perhaps my son could have been spared this outbreak.  I knew I wanted to be part of the cure, not part of the disease (for you Coldplay fans, you'll recognize that last sentence is a line from the song Clocks, one of my favorites).  I didn't want to be dishonest.  I strive for impeccable honesty.  Notice I said "strive".  Like everyone else, I fall short.  But this time, I wanted to take a stand.

Clayton Christensen wrote a great book called How Will You Measure Your Life.  In this book, he talks about some of his life lessons.  One of the lessons is that it's easier to stick to your convictions 100% of the time, than it is 98% of the time.  In his book, he says "Many of us have convinced ourselves that we are able to break our own personal rules 'just this once'.  In our minds, we can justify these small choices.  None of those things, when they first happen, feels like a life-changing decision.  The marginal costs are almost always low.  But each of those decisions can roll up into a much bigger picture, turning you into the kind of person you never wanted to be."

For me, telling the whole truth on the lice thing was actually liberating.  I stuck to my guns, aired my dirty laundry, and felt good about it.  So what if some misinformed people think my family's hygiene is below average.  I care much more about sticking to my morals than what other people might think.  It's a daily challenge, but knowing what I stand for, and then aspiring to stick with it 100% of the time, is worthwhile.
Proverbs 3: 3-4 says "Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart."