Kids do the darndest things……. When I was in middle school my friends and I needed some entertainment. So, here is what we did. We found old purses that no one wanted any longer. We filled them with my dog’s poop (that is the technical term) and stuck them on the highway at night. We hid in the bushes next to the highway to watch and listen to people’s responses. Cars would come screaming by, but when we quickly saw the brake lights come on and heard the screeching of tires, we knew we fooled someone. They would back up and we would often hear and see commotion in the car as they opened their door, illuminating their dome light so we could see what was happening as they SAW, REACHED in or SMELLED the REAL content of the purse! What fun entertainment for a middle school boy!

Seeing a purse left on a highway appealed to at least a few desires of people. Maybe they stopped to look because they were just curious………or, maybe they wanted to get the purse and deliver it to its owner or maybe they hoped they might find a treasure of wealth they could keep for their own.

What would you do? What desire would come out in you?  What would your true motive be when you discover a purse, sitting by itself with no apparent owner or anyone else anywhere near?

Nitina Nohria recently wrote a piece for Harvard Business Review, titled, “You’re Not as Virtuous as You Think.”  She notes that most of us have what she terms, “moral overconfidence.” Basically, it means we are less virtuous than we THINK we are.

She notes that in politics, business and sport, moral overconfidence is on display.  There is incredible pressure to redirect our moral compass when the incentive to redirect is greater than the present incentive to stay on the right path.  If we found that purse………and no one was looking, and we needed money, badly, would we fail to do what is right in order to pursue what (seemingly) brings greatest present reward?

This realization of the concept of moral overconfidence is another great example of why we need to be strong in emotional intelligence. Strengths in self-regulation (impulse control) and stress tolerance can aid us in this moral challenge (written in earlier blog posts). In addition, I make it a practice to meet with morally strong friends, weekly, to help keep my moral compass aligned (EQ quality- interpersonal relationships).  Finding others who share your values and encouraging each other to stick to those values is one of the great blessings of friendship.

The “Purses” Will Show Up on Your Roads

Being “Ready for Tomorrow” means being equipped to stand strong in the midst of the many enticing “purses” that lay in our path, daily.  Being “ready for tomorrow” is about the choices we are making today.  If you choose well today, your tomorrow will be so much brighter.  Choose well, my friends.