The Twelfth Step

Today’s inspirational story that I found on the Web is one that really made me laugh quite a bit because it reminded me a lot of my old behaviors. It’s titled “The Professor’s Truth Exam”.

One Sunday night, four college kids stayed out late, partying and having a good time. They paid no mind to the exam they had the next day and didn’t study. When Monday morning came, they hatched a plan to get out of taking it. They covered themselves with grease and dirt and went to the Professor’s office before class. Once there, they said they all had attended a wedding the prior evening and on the way back they got a flat tire, causing them to have to push the car back to campus. The Professor listened to their explanation and actually offered them a retest three days later. They were overjoyed at how their tale worked and grinned at each other as they left the Professor’s office. When the day arrived to retake the exam, the Professor put them in separate rooms. None seemed bothered by this strange action because they all had studied exceptionally hard and were prepared this time. That was until each saw the exam had only two questions:

1) What is your name? __________ (1 Point)
2) Which tire was flat? __________ (99 Points)
Choose from only one of the following: (a) Front Left (b) Front Right (c) Back Left (d) Back Right

There are two distinct lessons in this story that I’ve personally had to learn the hard way in life, like so many other things I went through. The first is about being responsible. Whether it was with exams in college, deadlines at work, or personal agreements I made that were attached to specific calendar dates, I often pushed off the stuff I needed to do to meet those dates until the very last minute. All that ever did was raise my anxiety and worry as those dates loomed near, knowing I wasn’t going to be prepared. And when the date finally arrived with me not being fully prepared, I’d tend to lie, make up excuses, and hope that it might somehow grant me an extension or free me of the obligation altogether. Most of the time it didn’t do either and instead just got me into deeper water. This of course brings me to the second lesson from this story, that being about all that lying I did when I didn’t remain responsible. Because the reality is that none of that lying ever did quite pay off for me in the end. Sure, I occasionally got away with a few of them here and there, but somehow most of them always caught up with me, causing more problems at a later date than if I just had been honest in the first place.

As I pondered this story, I ultimately had a good chuckle at the number of memories that flooded back into my consciousness when I used to do similar things just like those students did. Thank God, I’m much more of a responsible person in life these days and someone who is extremely honest too. Being this way has definitely taken a bunch of stress out of my life and helped me to feel a lot better about myself as well.

Nevertheless, in this story, the Professor had the last laugh just like I’m sure a number of people did with me along the way as well, when my lack of being responsible and lies caught up with me. I’m so grateful I got the point of this story and can say I’ve learned those lessons. And hopefully each of you can too…

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson