How funny that I have made a pie for three Barbara’s in a row! Today’s Barbara was suggested to me by my friend Jack. He mentioned that he held this lady in high esteem because she did the right thing “just because” it was the right thing to do.
I think that when we see people doing the “right thing” we notice it… because really, nowadays, it’s not very common. Just a few days ago someone said to me, “whatever happened to people with a conscience?” A conscience… wow. Wasn’t that who Jiminy Cricket was for Pinocchio?
I remember when I was about 7 years old and I was sitting in the living room of my mother’s friend’s house. There on the coffee table was a silver dime… and I don’t know what made me do it, but I took it. And from the scolding I got you would have thought that I had stolen all the gold from Fort Knox! Did that teach me a lesson? You better believe it did!
Many years later, on a shopping excursion with my two small children, I was able to instill that lesson once again. As I was paying at the cashier I noticed that my daughter was acting a bit strangely but could not discern what was going on. That was until we stepped outside the store and I noticed that her pocket was “full”. I asked what she had in her pocket and she said, “nothing!”
Then I reached into her pocket and took out a small bag of candy. She seemed incredulous… as if it had appeared there by magic. I marched her right back into the store to the same register and waited for the cashier so that I could return the candy. When he finally did recognize me and heard my story, “I am so sorry… but my daughter took this candy “by accident”…” he said, “oh, it’s okay.” And it took a lot for me to say, “No. It is not okay. My daughter took this candy without paying and she is very sorry for doing that and (glaring at her) she will never do that again!”
I think that if there were more people out there who had Mama’s who held their feet to the fire, well maybe there would be more people feeling a little bit more accountable. Maybe there would be less crime… or maybe we would be more considerate of one another. It just makes sense that we all need to be held accountable for what we do; we all need to have a conscience. And it’s likely that ours won’t be as cute as Jiminy Cricket, but if it helps us to do the right thing, well, that’s more than good enough.
Pie a Day Give Away 
Hahaha, sure tell everyone about my thieving ways!! 😉
I feel exactly the same – since that day I cannot imagine taking anything that’s not mine. Thanks for teaching me a good lesson the hard way 🙂
Love,
Alex
So glad it worked… you always were a quick student!
And if you think back, the lesson was really only “hard” for a moment.
xxoo