<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not wrong actions which require courage to confess, so much as those which are ridiculous and foolish\u201d (Jean-Jacques Rousseau).<\/p>\n
EVERY TIME WE\u2019RE FACED WITH THE NEED TO MAKE A CONFESSION, WE FIND OUT TWO THINGS: HOW MUCH WE VALUE TRUTH AND HOW MUCH COURAGE WE HAVE. When we\u2019ve done a wrong deed or made a mistake, a confession is simply an acknowledgement that the error is ours and we take full responsibility for it. If the truth is that we made the mistake, a decision not to confess the error is a decision to give untruth a higher priority than truth. So in deciding whether to confess, we find out how much we value truth. But even if we\u2019ve decided to tell the truth, it still takes courage to do that. So our courage is tested as well as our commitment to truth.<\/p>\n
Some confessions take more courage than others, of course. Certain mistakes might be considered so understandable that we would almost gain a greater standing in other people\u2019s eyes by confessing them. Other things we might do, however, as Rousseau suggests, would be viewed as being so \u201cridiculous and foolish\u201d that other people\u2019s estimate of our character would be adjusted downward in ways we would find very painful. Confessions that get us sympathy are comparatively easy to make; it\u2019s the ones that get us well-deserved shame that take both courage and a commitment to truth.<\/p>\n
As long as we\u2019re engaged in the business of living, we\u2019re going to have to make confessions from time to time. As Daniel Webster remarked, \u201cThere is no refuge from confession but suicide; and even suicide is a confession.\u201d Once done, a deed can never be undone, obviously, but the honest confession of our faults restores to us a virtue and an integrity that are the only honorable substitutes for innocence.<\/em> Having done wrong, we can at least do what\u2019s right about our wrong.<\/p>\n Most of us would say we prefer reality to illusion or deception. Yet by covering up or excusing our mistakes, aren\u2019t we saying we prefer others to have a favorable impression of us, even if it\u2019s inaccurate, rather than an unfavorable impression that\u2019s based on truth? Wouldn\u2019t it be better to come clean and take a stand for reality?<\/p>\n \u201cFor him who confesses, shams are over and realities have begun\u201d (William James).<\/p>\n Gary Henry \u2013 WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com<\/p>\n