Integrity. The story of Tom Smith.

Hello, my friends.

Today, I would like to tell you a beautiful story. I understand this is a real story. This story is worth remembering. It goes like this.

A man called Tom Smith was in his deathbed. He was dying. He worked in corporates, in governments, etc. And he was known for his integrity, honesty, truthfulness, and ability to do good in the most adverse times. He was goodness incarnate. But he could not make a lot of money. He could not make a house of his own. He did not have a great bank balance. He just about survived with his family. His wife died well before him, and he had only one daughter, Sarah. In the deathbed, when Tom Smith was almost dying, Sarah Smith came to him. In fact, she was looking after him in his last days. Sarah Smith came to him and said, ‘Dad, you know something, I don’t respect you. I have no respect for you because you earned nothing. We don’t have a house of our own. This is a rented house. We have no property, no wealth, no money. We have nothing. What did you do all these years? You said, ‘It’s bad to be corrupt.’ You said, ‘Corruption, cheating, stealing… all these are bad.’ But look at those people. They have made money. They have possessions. They have everything. You always talked about honesty, truthfulness and various stuff like that, but you have nothing. Is this a good life? I don’t think so. I don’t respect you. I’m sorry to say this, but if I don’t say this now, you will die, and this will sit with me. So, I want you to know this.’ Obviously, Tom Smith died heartbroken because his only daughter did not love him. He felt it. And he died.

A couple of months later, Sarah Smith applied for a job in a big corporate. She applied for a position in the administration, and they called her for the interview. Then, at the interview table, one of the consultants asked her, ‘What’s your full name?’ She said, ‘Sarah Smith.’ ‘What’s your father’s name?’ She said, ‘Tom Smith.’ What does he do? What did he do?‘ So she said, ‘He is no more. He worked in a government department approving certain organizations, or recommending certain things like that, in a position of secretarial work where he was instrumental in approvals of certain kinds.’ Suddenly, this man’s face changed. He became very kind and he asked, ‘Are you the daughter of Tom Smith who worked in such and such an organization?’ She said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘You know what? That man is responsible for where I’m sitting now. He signed my papers without taking any bribe, without asking me anything. He just looked at my merits, and he signed it. He recommended me. And that’s what got me this job. Today I am sitting in this chair because of him. Young lady, consider your job is done. You have the job. Come tomorrow and pick up the paper’. There was no question. There was no interview. There was no appraisal. There was not even scrutiny of her certificates. She got the job. She couldn’t believe it. Suddenly, she felt something hurting inside, something clicked inside. She thought, ‘Oh my God. My father, he earned money but did not have savings. He was not a rich man. He did not die a rich man, but his richness still lives. And here is an example. I got a job, just by his name.’ She started having regret inside.

Next day, she came to the office, picked up the letter of appointment, she joined the job, and she worked for a few years. And everybody was happy with her work. She was sincere, she was loving, and she followed her father’s footsteps. She was not corrupt. She was honest, she was sincere. She did her job with full conviction, full application, consistently, and sincerely.

Few years passed by. The Managing Director of the firm, this huge firm, was retiring. And there were internal recommendations to replace him. And Sarah Smith was recommended by the same gentleman who interviewed and appointed her. And she was interviewed again for the senior position, the top of the company. They asked the question, ‘How do you remember your father?’ Again, she had regrets. She said, ‘I’m guilty of sending him to death heartbroken because I made him sad with my words that I do not respect him. I told him I do not respect what he has done because he did not earn any money; he did not save any money. He did not have possessions. All he had was a bank balance of goodwill. It is not a cashable bank balance. You can’t cash that. But today I am sitting in this chair talking to you because of that man’s integrity. That man’s honesty. His goodness factor. Now, I’m guilty. I feel sad. I feel heartbroken. I hope my father has forgiven me because I’m living exactly the way he lived’.

They asked her, ‘Why are you crying now?’ She said, ‘I wish I could have told him: ‘I’m proud of you, my father. I’m proud of you.’ But I didn’t. Instead, I told him, ‘I don’t respect you’. So they asked her, ‘How are you compensating for what you’ve done? How are you repenting?’ She said, ‘I have kept his picture next to the picture of God. He is God to me. He is equal to God. For me, I respect him as God. I remember him every day. I do charity in his name. And I’m compensating every day. I’m repenting every day’.
She got the job, the Managing Directors position. And she, wherever possible, spread the great message her father left behind for her. The message was integrity, goodness, consistent goodness, sincerity, selflessness.

So, my friends. I hope you understood this story. We must remember: what we leave behind should make us live in the hearts of many. We can earn money, we can do anything in life. But if we do not have integrity, sincerity, honesty, goodness factor, selflessness, kindness, compassion, we will not be remembered. Or we will be remembered for the wrong reasons.

Today, we live in cities. We have nuclear families. We do not even have eye contact with people, including people in the house. We are all on our gadgets. We are busy in our own world. We fail to see the heart, or the heart aches, of the people in our own household. Remember, hearts are beating around us. All they need is love, kindness, compassion, understanding, awareness. If we are able to give that, we will be rich inside. We will be tremendously rich inside. If we give sorrows and unhappiness to people who live with us, who love us, we will not be able to have a regret-free life ahead. For us to be guilt-free, regret-free, we should always remember that Love is the only medicine. Unconditional Love.

We have a lot to do in this world. And the biggest gift we can give to this world is our own life. Ourselves. We cannot give to this world anything better than that. The biggest gift we can give is ourselves. And that’s what the generations will remember: our kindness, the way we lived, our integrity, standing firm by each friendship. Never cheating, stealing, betraying, character assassinating anybody. Instead, loving everybody, forgiving, forgetting all the bad memories of the past. Forgiving everyone who hurts you, forgiving everyone who misunderstands you, gives you uneasiness, gives you pain. Forgive them. We don’t need that thing in our mind. Our mind should be always empty and free. Instead, give love, give compassion, and never hurt anybody. Never, never hurt. If the truth is going to hurt a lot of people, don’t talk that truth. This is what you should remember, this is very important.

Anyway, I leave you with these thoughts. It’s a bit longer than usual. But I thought this story needs to be told. The goodness that you deliver to this world will live long, even after your death. Goodness factor has longevity. Righteousness has longevity. It will survive much more than your life. It will transcend your lifespan. So, be kind. Be honest. Be sincere and be truthful. Do not ask or crave for anything from others. Instead, give what you have, share what you have and be good. Do good and be good.

Here’s Mohanji signing off with this thought on your plate.

Lots of love.

Transcribed by Ulla Bernholdt

Proofread by Maja Otovich

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