The Blue Flag (Letters to My Sons — Part 8)
I fondly remember attending, and later working, at the summer camp where I’d meet your mother.
Every morning, afternoon, and evening we’d line up at flag poles dedicated to various positive attributes that the camp hoped to instill in its campers and staff.
My memory has faded a bit, but if I remember correctly they were: Respect, Caring, Responsibility, and Honesty. Service was added in later years as well.
My favorite color (and yours too, Evan) has always been blue: the Honesty flag.
I believe that this attribute, and the color that stands for it, will also always be something you boys hold dear.
The obvious example of honesty is not to lie to place yourself over others, whether that means falsely elevating yourself or putting them down.
It’s my hope that this point is so obvious, in fact, that I don’t have to belabor it here.
However, the more dangerous type of dishonesty is that which takes place because you feel the truth will cause pain to yourself or others.
Often we hear this referred to as a ‘white lie.’
Don’t fear their pain or suffering.
Or yours.
The strongest steel is forged in the hottest fire.
The weakest of all weak things is a virtue that has not been tested in the fire.
The earth must be tilled before seeds can be planted. In a similar fashion, you will find in your life that a layer of yourself must be painfully ripped away before seeds of compassion, empathy, and wisdom can be planted deep within us.
You will wrestle with the concept of justice. Why are liars and cheaters rewarded for their insidious actions? Why isn’t honesty always rewarded?
Remember: A knight does not protect the truth; he lives inside of it and it protects him.
