So THAT’S What A Mote Looks Like
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
– Mathew 7:3-4
No one likes to be called a hypocrite, but that’s what I was. I didn’t mean to be, so maybe that was a point in my favor and it all turned out okay.
My daughter and I sat in my car outside the police station waiting for an officer to arrive. It was about 11:30 on a Saturday night with a light rain threatening. What does it say about your town that the police station is essentially “drive through only” late at night? We had tried to walk in, but there was a “call box” outside the locked door.
Provo Police how may I help you?
Yeah, my name’s Rodney Bliss and I need to talk to an officer.
Is this an emergency?
No.
We’ll have someone there as soon as we can.
Should I wait here or in my car?
Ah. . .yeah, probably in your car.
About 15 minutes later an officer comes walking across the street. We figured out where we needed to go and decided he would follow us there. I turned to my daughter,
Remember to put your seatbelt on. I think there’s a cop behind us.
She smiled and buckled in. It was a short drive to where we needed to go. When we got there I went to unbuckle my seatbelt and as you’ve probably guessed, it wasn’t buckled.
Yup, I was the hypocrite. I figured out why it wasn’t buckled afterward. When we went back to the car from the police station, it was cold enough that we turned on the heater. Since we weren’t actually driving anywhere, I didn’t put on my seatbelt. Later when we went to leave, I didn’t think of it. Like many people, I put on my seatbelt when in a particular order when I’m getting ready to go somewhere.
My daughter didn’t even notice, and if she had, probably would have been more amused than offended. But, it reminded me that as managers we set the example for our staff. If you don’t want them taking two hour lunches, don’t take two hour lunches. If you want them to be careful with company funds, don’t book yourself into a 5 star hotel when you travel.
We are managers because we are good at leading people, and while it’s not how we would typically describe it, we are good at telling people what to do. Just make sure that you remember to tell yourself. . .and buckle up!
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife and thirteen children.
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