When the Glass Is Twice as Large As it Needs to Be
When the old lady answered the door, I knew I’d gone way in over my head.
This blog will be a story about seeing the truth —this personality trait is a tool you may use to realize your hair flows in the direction opposite to what you see in the mirror, and to discover maybe we don’t need to debate whether the glass is half empty or half full.
Developing this trait has defined most of my young adult life, and I like to think it’s a defining characteristic of who I am.
Nevertheless, I continue to pursue it with diligence so I can make better decisions. As you’ll soon find out, there was definitely a time when I wasn’t so great at making decisions…
A Computer, A Car, A Confession
When I was a senior in high school, all I could think of was becoming a startup technology founder. As such the summer before I reached the 12th grade, I started a volunteer out of my high school, Teen Tech Support (TTS). My friends and I thought it would be a great way to help local senior citizens troubleshoot common technical issues they had with their devices, by letting more tech-savy high school kids teach them more about the things they were using.
That being said, I never thought to account for stranger danger, and my parents knew it — they could see I was starting the project in order to learn, but they forbade me from meeting any seniors without their permission, and to not take huge personal risks.
So what did I do? I took huge personal risks.
I learned my lesson though — in mid-July of that summer, I answered a call to help a grandma who lived in town, who needed help fixing her Google Chromebook. I knew my parents would freak, but. I. had. my. first. user.
I drove over to the old lady’s house — and anti-climatically didn’t have any stranger-danger issues — but coming back home that night, I just didn’t feel right. My parents had left the house before I’d left, and I returned before they did — if I just kept my mouth shut, perhaps they never had to know, right?
I came clean with my parents that night out of sheer personal guilt. They were shocked, disappointed, and angry, and they let me know it — but I took away something from that day I continue to value, and it affects how I see my own sense of integrity.
The Why
When you know you’ll be in trouble. When you know what you say or do is going outside what others think is acceptable.
Seeing the truth — and telling it like it is — is not just the right thing to do when it’s the right thing to do. It’s even more important when it’s the wrong thing to do.
