In a national spelling contest, an 11-year-old girl was asked to spell a certain word. But with her 1 voice the judges were not sure whether she spelled the word with the letter A or E. Finally, they decided to ask her what she had said. By now, the girl knew she had 2 the word. But instead of lying, she told the truth that she had said the 3 letter-so she lost the contest.
As the girl walked off the stage, the entire audience stood up to applaud her 4 . Later, dozens of newspapers reported her honesty, even when it cost her the contest. But the fact is that she 5 the biggest contest that day-the contest of her 6 .
Probably the biggest test of our character is what we would do if we knew we would never get 7 . This young girl could easily have 8 and nobody would have known it but herself. But that's just it: she would know she did wrong. It's been said, "If you 9 , you make yourself cheap." Her respect for herself was more important than any 10 others might give her for winning a contest. She knew she would have to live with herself and the 11 she made at that moment will have a long-lasting influence.
It's so true that the choice you make today 12 what you are tomorrow. Our children will 13 our behaviour much more than our advice. So if we want them to 14 to be honest, we must show them the way by being honest ourselves. Remember, our kids are 15 what we do and how we live even when we don't think they see or know.
