What You Do When No One Is Looking

By Martie Hevia | Blue Beach Song™

A long time ago, perhaps when I was in middle school, I was playing some type of truth-or-dare game with a few friends of mine. From a stack of cards with questions, I picked one up and it asked if I would stop and wait at a long red traffic light, if it happened in the middle-of-nowhere, at night, with no cars or people around.

It may seem like a silly thing to remember all these years later, but I remember it because most everyone laughed, unwilling to believe that I would wait for the light to turn green. Someone blurted out, seemingly frustrated, “But, why?!?” No one would see you; no one would know!” And all I could say was, “I would know.”

What you do when no one is looking says a great deal about you. It is at the core of who you are.

Consider for a moment what you would be willing to do, if you believed you would never get caught and no one would ever find out. Would you cheat on your spouse? Would you lie on your taxes? Would you steal priceless artwork from a museum? Would you run a red light?

If you ever want to do a self-assessment of your personal ethics, morals, mores, character, values, and principles, then self-reflecting on such a question provides a good mirror into your inner workings.

After self-reflecting, some people might find that the temptation of doing the wrong thing when no one is watching is too much to resist, and for those people I have a simple solution: assume the world is watching you.

If you are in a romantic relationship and you are ever in doubt that what you are doing is inappropriate or not, ask yourself if you would behave that way with your beloved watching you. If you wouldn’t do it with them watching, then don’t do it.

(The same advice applies to children with their parents or students with their teachers or any two people in any relationship.)

Why take a chance on hurting or disappointing someone you care about? In the end, that someone you hurt or disappoint will probably be you.

Martie Hevia (c) 2013 | All Rights Reserved