Mar 11
26
I was challenged two nights ago by doing what is right versus doing what is convenient. My daughter is leaving her day care as we are moving, so her friends have been giving her little good bye presents which was really sweet of them. She came home very excited because she has a video of Angelina Ballerina and she wanted to watch it. She took it out and to my surprise it was a copied version, not an original.
I hesitated, then I told her that we do not watch copied versions of videos or movies because it is not the right thing to do. You should have seen how disappointed she was. It nearly broke my heart.
I told her she must understand that it is not her fault. But we have to return it* and I will buy her a new one. She was of course very upset. And then she started bawling her eyes out.
I was torn. I asked myself will it matter if I let her watch it because the VCD is already there? Or am I making a big deal out of this? But the stronger voice in me says, my actions will speak louder. And if I want to teach her to do the right thing, then I have to go with the more difficult choice. This will also allow me to remain in integrity because in our household, no pirated videos, music, illegal duplication of books, CDs, DVDs are allowed.
To my surprise, she said while still crying, "Why don't you let me watch it just ONCE mummy, and then we will return it tomorrow."
Haha….She was tempted by the lower ego!
It was a hard one to explain to a five year old but somehow I did. I asked her if I could just let hersteal from the shop just ONCE if she sees something she likes at the shop?
That got her thinking.
After a while, she said, "Alright mummy, I know it is not right. Let's watch something else."
You would not believe how happy I was to hear those words!
In being a channel and healer, being in integrity is everything. It is what holds the energies together in my work and I am glad I didn't choose the easy way to appease my daughter. It was definitely much easier to follow the path of the mainstream and not have a second thought about what is seemingly an innocent duplicated VCD. But stealing is stealing no matter how it is disguised.
Indeed, "Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking".
*btw I have decided not to return the VCD as my actions will most likely be misunderstood as a judgment against them. It is none of my business how other people parent their children but I care about how I parent mine. To each his own way. So I am destroying the VCD.
© Shamala Tan 2011
