When I was the Executive Principal at my previous school, one of the Year 12 boys there was an outstanding Australian Rules footballer. He was so good, in fact, that he was being considered by one of the AFL Clubs to draft him.
This young man was an exceptional athlete and his prowess on the football field was highly regarded. What surprised me the most as this young man was being considered by the club was how little time they spent looking at his athleticism. They had already watched him play to be able to determine that he had what it took to becoming an elite footballer. What they now wanted to explore was whether he had the character to match his sporting ability!
The club wanted to know if he was a person who could be trusted, lived with integrity, was reliable, honest and even trustworthy. They wanted to know if he could be someone who could stand up to all sorts of scrutiny.
They knew the pressure of being an AFL player, both on and off the field, is immense. If there were any cracks in his character, this extreme pressure would expose these cracks and possibly open them up further.
I am pleased to say that he was drafted and went on to play senior AFL.
This story came back to me over the weekend as I watched a news broadcast, where the report was about someone who is a repeat offender. The reporter made a most amazing statement, “We need to fix our thinking that anybody can get away with anything.” It was like the reporter was observing that people think it doesn’t matter and we can do whatever I want! What a sad state of affairs.
This is particularly true if the ‘anything’ is dishonesty or untruth. Most people believe it’s okay to lie, especially if no one gets hurt.
The whole history of the human race is a commentary on this. The first lie recorded in the Bible is found in the first book, Genesis 3:4, when Satan said, ‘If you eat of the fruit, surely you won’t die,’ despite what God had previously stated.
Something dies the moment we are dishonest or fail to be a person of integrity. Degeneration begins to damage our heart the moment dishonesty enters in. As the Bible helps us to understand, the impact of sin is significant.
I once heard an Indian folk tale about how the local milkman delivered milk to the people of the village. The milkman would lead his cow and her calf from door to door and milk the cow in front of the person standing in the doorway. You may wonder if there’s not a more efficient way to deliver milk, and you’d be right!
But the milkman had been caught watering down the milk to try and make more money, and in the process, lost the trust of the people of the village. The villagers therefore would only buy milk from him if he milked his cow in front of them! The milkman’s dishonesty doomed him to a life of drudgery, and the moral universe had the last word!
“Dishonest puts sand in the machinery of life,” says one writer, and perhaps we could add, “honesty and integrity put in oil.”
Last week as I watched each of our Year 12 students participate in their 12 final assembly and Valedictory dinner, I was so impressed with the way each student carried themselves. Their sense of character and integrity shone brightly, and as I watched, I felt a deep sense of privilege in having our Year 12 students with us, after up to 13 years.
The overarching prayer of the staff and I is for them to continue to allow this character to shine brightly. We have had a marvellous opportunity to help develop and refine their character as they have spent time within our community.
This is why we say, each day, thank you parents for trusting us with your children. We thank God for the privilege of having the opportunity to speak into their lives and see them become the people God has called them to be.