You Might be Able to Fool Mom

When I was a child my brother and I would often find creative ways to entertain ourselves. We would often play baseball in my bedroom, using a rolled up sock for a ball and a metal ruler for a bat.

One day I was batting and in my enthusiasm to hit a home run I allowed the ruler to slip from my hand. It stuck in the wall. We immediately knew we were in trouble. However, being the creative kids we were, we decided we could repair the wall and our parents would never know.

We used some modeling clay to fill the gash. We then snuck into the basement to find the paint we needed to touch up the repair. We located the paint, touched up the area, and celebrated our achievement. No harm, no foul.

A few days later my mother asked about a spot on my bedroom wall. Standing at the door, a very noticeable sheen difference could be seen. I had used a semi-gloss paint on the flat walls! I confessed my transgression. Much to my relief my mother was actually somewhat admiring of our creativity.

I learned several things from that experience. One, I had a lot to learn about paint. Two, honesty always pays. I could have played ignorant, and perhaps gotten by with it. But when I was honest, I wasn’t punished and received some level of praise.

I might have fooled my mother. But I would have been the real victim of my deceit. I might have concluded that sometimes dishonesty is a viable option. A petty lie to my mother probably wouldn’t have wrecked my life. Petty lies to my customers will definitely wreck my business, as it should.

You might be able to fool Mom. You can’t fool the market, at least not for long.

© BEP Enterprises Incorporated 2008