Sunday, July 27, 2003		Lessons From Life

What you are is as important as what you do

IT was a sunny Saturday afternoon in Oklahoma City. My friend and proud father Bobby Lewis was taking his two little boys to play miniature golf. He walked up to the fellow at the ticket counter and said, "How much is it to get in?"

The young man replied, "$3 for you and $3 for any kid who is older than six. We let them in free if they are six or younger. How old are they?"

Bobby replied, "One is three and the other seven, so I guess I owe you $6."

The man at the ticket counter said, "Hey, Mister, did you just win the lottery or something? You could have saved yourself three bucks. You could have told me that the older one was six; I wouldn’t have known the difference." Bobby replied, "Yes, that may be true, but the kids would have known the difference."

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Who you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you’re saying." In times when ethics are more important than ever before, make sure you set a good example for everyone you work and live with.

Integrity over victory

A while back, there was a story about Reuben Gonzolas, who was in the final match of his first professional racquetball tournament. He was playing the perennial champion for his first shot at a victory on the pro circuit. At match point in the fifth and final game, Gonzolas made a super "kill shot" into the front corner to win the tournament. The referee called it good, and one of the linemen confirmed the shot was a winner.

But after a moment’s hesitation, Gonzolas turned and declared that his shot had skipped into the wall, hitting the floor first. As a result, the serve went to his opponent, who went on to win the match. Reuben Gonzolas walked off the court; everyone was stunned. The next issue of a leading racquetball magazine featured Gonzolas on its cover. The lead editorial searched and questioned for an explanation for the first ever occurrence on the professional racquetball circuit. Who could ever imagine it in any sport or endeavour? Here was a player with everything officially in his favour, with victory in his grasp, who disqualifies himself at match point and loses.

Asked why he did it, Gonzolas replied, "It was the only thing I could do to maintain my integrity."

This is a story about Frank Szymanski, a Notre Dame centre in the 1940s, who had been called as a witness in a civil suit.

"Are you on the Notre Dame football team this year?" the judge asked.

"Yes, Your Honour."

"What position?"

"Centre, Your Honour."

"How good a centre?"

Szymanski squirmed in his seat, but said firmly: "Sir, I’m the best centre Notre Dame has ever had."

Coach Frank Leahy, who was in the courtroom, was surprised. Szymanski always had been modest and unassuming. When the proceedings were over, he asked Szymanski why he had made such a statement. Szymanski blushed.

"I hated to do it, Coach," he said. "But, after all, I was under oath."

(Culled from the Net)