Being Honest

Hello,

Being honest seems easy enough until you start living. Our landlords have gifted us with their wireless internet password for the more than two years we have lived here. It did not seem dishonest to me, but a great blessing, even a part of our utility bill.

Then we got the phone in the VoIP mode.  That has also worked fine for almost two years. When our landlords did a recent remodel and moved the router, the phone stopped working. After much problem solving attempts, they let us plug our phone into the router. The difficulties came to light when their tech guy said we could not do that. It is against the law to have two households using one Internet connection. We did not act fast on that, in part because of wondering if it were really a problem and because we were both gone for some of that time. The tech guy came back, pulled the plug on our phone and stated that he did not want to see it there again. So we are without a home phone at the moment. Saturday we signed up for internet service with a different company than the one used in the house.

As a person who “prides” herself on being honest, it is difficult to hear someone say I am not. Then there is the desire to not spend money on something that we could get free. Temptation is very strong. We even discussed forgetting the home phone and continuing to use the internet connection. I would not think of going to a store and taking something out without paying for it. I also would not take something from someone’s home. Just like copyright issues these almost intangible things are more liftable. It would appear that we are not hurting or taking from anyone directly.

Life and morals are indeed complicated. At least starting on Tuesday we will be honest about our phone/internet service. Now are there other areas of my life that are really dishonest and I do not know?

Paula