The way I see it, Mrs. Tricia Daniel was right –spot on, with her surmisings, as she delivered the feature address at the Charlestown Secondary Schools’ graduation, on Wednesday 14th November.
In her efforts to keep the young graduates on the straight and narrow, even as they get set to venture into the world of work, she challenged them to ‘dare to be a Daniel.’
To stand up for truth and justice; for integrity and honesty-even in the face of adversity-yeah even in the face of being fired from a job.
She spoke of a real life experience, when very early in her employ at one of her former places of work, a phone call came in and the person requested to speak to her boss.
The boss was standing very close to her and indicated to her to tell the person that HE WAS NOT IN.
She told him that she could not tell the person in all honesty that he was not in, when he was standing right in front of her.
She eventually told the individual that the boss was UNAVAILABLE.
When she hung up the phone, the boss told her that she had a lot to learn.
Well I newa!
Now it is a stated fact that too many employees are bowing to the pressures brought to bear on them by their respective bosses, to tell outright lies on their behalf.
In a former institution where I worked previously, a young lady would occasionally visit the office to make a variety of ‘complaints’ to my boss.
It was a known fact that she was a bit unstable in the head (to put it mildly) and everyone knew when she was ‘off’ because she would come into the office with a small alarm clock, held tightly to one ear and making out as if she was on a phone call.
Well, on this day, she came to the office with her clock to her ear and asked to speak to the boss.
He in turn sent out the message that he was NOT IN.
Well who tell him do that?
The message was duly carried out and the story was supposed to end that the young lady took her clock and hurriedly left the office…..
No siree bob!
On this particular day, the lady insisted that the boss was there because ‘his vehicle is parked outside.’
They tried to reason with her that someone’s vehicle could be parked outside but they could be elsewhere.
I don’t know what the woman ate that day but she insisted that she was not going to move until she saw the boss!
He in turn, when he received the news, decided to stay in his office and wait it out, because ‘she will get fed-up and leave.’
What happened next was not in the original script.
The lady waited until someone was going upstairs and bolted through the open door and ended up right in front of the boss’ door.
Now let’s put this into perspective.
The boss was in a serious dilemma. There was only one door out from his office and the lady was standing in front of it. There was a window but if he decided to jump from it he would land at least 15 feet down.
He had to come out of that door, even if he had to go to the bathroom!
It was a poor construction deign and obviously the original builders, never catered for a situation such as the one under consideration.
Guess what? He eventually had to come out and face the lady. Of course she was huffed off, because he was understandably angered and annoyed, but on that occasion, the LIE backfired.
So, Mrs. Daniel was correct. People must learn to stand up for what is true and correct, even if they get punished for it.
Daniel in the bible stood up for principle, even in the face of possible death.
He refused to eat the portions of PORK and LOBSTER and all those foods that God has stated in Leviticus 11, that were not for human consumption. He also refrained from the King’s wines and HAMMOND and such like.
He challenged the King to just allow him and his friends to drink water and eat fruits and vegetables for ten days and then do the comparison with the other lads who had eaten of the King’s expensive filth.
Guess what?
After the ten day trial period, Daniel and his friends looked FAIRER AND FATTER and more HEALTHY than the other lads!
The moral of the story is that we should seek to stand up for truth and right and like the three Hebrew boys (not Mrs. Daniel’s sons), declare quite loudly that ‘even if he does not save us, we will not bow down!
If we honour God like that, God will in turn honour us. Daniel and the three Hebrew boys received lofty positions in the Kingdom because of their trust in God.
The fact is, that is the only way for us to go—Really!
That’s the way I see it. How do you see it?
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