Honest Holly
I stole some Clorets when I was about 4 or 5. My mom found my half-eaten package hidden in the kitchen one day, and she took me back to the store to confess, apologize, and pay the money I owed. I can remember feeling so much guilt that day. As teenagers, my sister and I each ate one peanut from a big pile of peanuts in the grocery store, and my mom made us go back in and each give the store employee a dime. It was pretty humiliating.
My thieving history is only relevant to illustrate that I was taught right from wrong. I knew dishonesty was wrong, and my mom made sure I never forgot it.
But I did forget.
Brian and I were married and living in Utah. I was going to school, getting my master's degree, and I was pregnant with our first baby. We lived on one side of BYU, and the business school was on the opposite side. It was a loooong walk, especially when I was pregnant. I started driving instead.
Driving was awesome, but there was one problem. We didn't have a parking pass. Money was tight, and I felt like we couldn't afford the $100 pass. I convinced myself that my chances of getting a parking ticket were slim to none.
I was wrong. After only a few days of driving myself to school, I came out one day to a $25 ticket on my windshield. ARGH! I was upset. I threw the ticket in my glove compartment and went home.
The next day, I drove to school again. I parked the car and had a stroke of genius. I would put the ticket from yesterday on my windshield...and the police would move on, thinking they had already ticketed my car! It was brilliant. Dishonest, but brilliant.
IT WORKED!!
After my classes ended, I walked to my car. The ticket from yesterday was still on my windshield, exactly as I had left it. I couldn't believe my plan had worked! I didn't feel guilty or ashamed...I was thrilled. I kept it up. Day after day, I would drive to school, park my car, and carefully place my old parking ticket on the windshield. And day after day, the police fell for it.
This went on for about a month. One day, I drove to school, but I had to be there earlier than normal. I placed the ticket and hustled inside. When I walked out of my last class, my stomach turned. I could clearly see that my car had two parking tickets. I had been caught.
The gig was up.
I opened the new ticket, and it wasn't $25. It was a $100 parking ticket!! Apparently, the BYU police didn't think my deception was as clever as I did. Devastated, I drove home.
I owed $125 now! It was an incredible amount of money, especially to college students who didn't have much. I could have bought the parking pass for the year, and STILL spent less than I did with my scamming operation. I had been a fool.
As I paid the dumb parking tickets, I thought about the Clorets, and the sole peanut. I thought about honesty and integrity, and I remembered my mom and what she had taught me. I wondered what kind of person I wanted to be?
Honest.
I wanted to be honest. I decided my scamming days were over. I wanted to have integrity. Pregnant or not, I started walking to and from school everyday. And despite the little aches and pains, I never felt better.
