Happy Sunday Everyone:
I was sitting in my favorite chair last Sunday catching up on some work when I received an email from a friend on the east coast. All it had was 3 question marks. I looked at what was below and it was my Sunday Thoughts from a couple weeks ago, when I was running and listening to “have it all” by Jason Mraz (http://www.sundaythoughts.com/have-it-all-2/). The only problem with it is it wasn’t from me. Another person on this distribution list took my Sunday Thoughts, deleting my name and took my story as their own, then forwarded it to their own distribution list (not realizing we might have a few folks on both our lists). Literally every single word, running at 5AM, seeing Patty, etc…just took it as their own story and sent it out (minus the picture of patty and me of course). Who does that? Can you imagine taking someone else’s story and acting like it’s your own and then sharing it with an audience? The lack of integrity blows my mind. I honestly can’t get my head wrapped around the decision process that goes into that.
So aside from taking the opportunity to let the person know I know, and to please stop using my words as her own, I do have some takeaways:
- When you do something wrong, you typically get caught. If your integrity is off kilter, at least consider getting caught as the minimum standard for not making a decision that puts your character at risk.
- Bad behavior creates a negative ripple effect. I talked to my friend who forwarded the email back to me. She admitted to calling another friend and asking if it was possible that I subscribe to a service for my Sunday Thoughts vs. using my own words. This is a big statement but it’s true, when people witness you doing something wrong, it puts into question how many others are doing the wrong thing too. It creates a loss of hope that most people do the right thing. Personally, I’d like to leave this earth giving hope vs. putting it into question.
- Respond vs. React-Some might say this response is a reaction, it’s really not for me. My initial reaction was to blow the phones up last Sunday when I found out about this. Taking a bit of time to calm down has taken initial anger into annoyance and laughter at this whole thing. Although it’s pretty lame, it’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Serves as a reminder to me to minimize my initial reactions when angry, I usually end up apologizing for doing/saying something I’d take back.
- A friend responded to last week’s Sunday Thoughts with this, which I think is so fitting for this situation and all of us as a reminder, “All you can take with you is your character, interesting that It’s also the only important thing we leave behind.”
I’m over this after this. I’m grateful for the reminder it serves to work hard to be on the right side of character. It truly is all we have and all we leave behind when we’re at the end of the road (thank you Paul C).
For what it’s worth, I’ve never used anything other than my own words for Sunday Thoughts.
Have a great rest of a long weekend.