Sweet Huckle,You, like every child, were born with a unique set of natural abilities. These are gifts. They provide a boost in life and help define us.
One of your gifts that has shone brightly since you were old enough to communicate is your integrity. This is a precious, precious gift that the world desperately needs. It probably won't earn you success writ in dollars and fame, but it might some day bless a parched world.
For, a gift is not meant only for personal gain; it's entrusted to one individual for the benefit of others. As G.K. Chesterton said,
Every one on this earth should believe, amid whatever madness or moral failure, that his life and temperament have some object on the earth. Every one on the earth should believe that he has something to give to the world which cannot otherwise be given.A natural ability also needs exercise. Someone gifted at football doesn't become a professional by sitting on the couch all day eating cheez doodles. Even professionals practice every day to maintain and improve and hone their abilities. Exercising a gift means never seeing it as a shortcut, never accepting good-enough, and never giving yourself a break this time because you know you can do better next time.
My sweet Huckle, that is why your Latin test make me proud. I didn't hug you tight for getting a perfect score. Rather, I was proud of your admission, written above one answer, that you had seen a classmate's paper and only knew the correct answer from doing so. You didn't compromised your integrity; you demanded accuracy and precision from your gift.
That must have been a hard thing to admit. Others might have justified it:- "I couldn't help seeing the answer."
- "I usually get 100%, so it's no big deal."
- "It's only 1 small answer on the whole test."
- "I'll let it by this time as long as I make sure it doesn't happen again."
But you admitted it up front and right away. That's huge, My Love.
As a mother, I recognize that this isn't something I can do for you; it's up to you to keep your integrity in training. Proof that you are doing so makes me very proud.
I pray that you continue to not accept good-enough, that you keep your integrity sharp. This will be hard. Life throws little rocks at us all day long that blunt our resolve and form those gray areas that make us doubt our abilities and make it harder to judge right from wrong.
Most of all, I pray that you have the courage to value your integrity more than your reputation for integrity. To protect a reputation for integrity would be to compromise integrity -- you will make mistakes. And maintaining your integrity will get harder as you get bigger. Bigger people make even bigger mistakes and care even more about what others think.
Huckle, if you read this some day, ask yourself: how am I doing? Is my integrity still sharp? Am I using it to bless those around me?
I love you, my dear son!
