A quick poll of some staff members revealed that most of us have memories of ethical lapses when we were children. Someone remembered copying from a book's jacket cover for a book report. Others recalled diverting milk money for candy, cheating at "capture the flag," stealing a book, sneaking into a rock concert without paying. One person even remembered lying when she was four years old.
Why does the memory of such events, which a lot of people might consider insignificant, stay with us? Perhaps because the wrongdoing made us feel so uncomfortable. And as the ethics-related articles in this month's issue point out, that's not surprising, because dishonesty is actually unnatural to us.
We hope that one of the lasting messages you'll take from these articles is that the power that compels humanity to be truthful and pure is infinitely greater than what entices it to misdeeds. Christian Science affirms that God is all-powerful good, the very Principle of existence, and that Principle is what really determines the nature of creation. Admitting, and then striving to act out, our inherent likeness to Principle is ultimately natural and irresistible. This fact gives us every reason to trust that the world can rise to a higher level of integrity in the twenty-first century.
