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Chapter Four
Counterfeiting!
What are Counterfeit Character Qualities?
What Goes Around Comes Around!
Did you know that counterfeiting money
is one of the oldest crimes in history? That is a fact according to
the United States Secret Service. Truthfully, I could not tell you
whether I have ever passed counterfeit money or not. I have no idea
how to spot counterfeit money from genuine money. I have never had
that type of training.
The United States had a big problem in the 19th century. There were over 1600
banks. Each bank designed and printed its own money. At that time, there were
7000 types of genuine money. The bad news was that there were also 4000 types
of counterfeit money. People could no longer tell the real money from the fake
money. Who could possibly keep track of all those different types of money?
During the Civil War, one third
of all money was not genuine money. It was counterfeit. In order
to stop this, in 1863, the United States changed over to just
one type of money. However, having just one type of money did not stop
the counterfeiting. By 1865, the Secret Service was
founded to crack down on the counterfeiters.
The Secret Service tells us how to
spot counterfeit money. On their web site, they show pictures of
the real money. They show the genuine money, and then they show
the counterfeit. In order to spot the counterfeit money, you first
have to know what genuine money looks like. The better you know
what genuine money looks like; the better you can see the differences
between the two types.
No one would be very happy to find out they had been given counterfeit
money. Imagine if you went to the bank to take out some of your money.
Then you found out later they had given you counterfeit money. Conflict
would be the result. We trust that when we accept cash from someone it
is genuine.
Counterfeit money is to genuine money...
...What counterfeit traits are to genuine traits.
Will you imagine for a moment that the
genuine character traits are just like genuine money? Imagine that
you can spend character traits just as you spend money. When you spend
your genuine character traits, you are spending the real thing. As
you pay your way with your genuine traits, people will grow to trust
you that you only spend genuine traits. They will feel confident that
you would never pay them with a counterfeit character trait. Genuine
traits adhere to the rule of not causing harm, injury, or insult to
others or yourself.
Spending counterfeit money will get you into trouble. It will also cause conflict
for others. The people you spend it on will feel cheated. Spending counterfeit
traits also will get you into trouble. It will also cause conflict. The people
that you spend your counterfeit traits on will feel cheated.
In fact, just
like with counterfeit money, the more and more you spend counterfeit traits,
the greater will be your risk. The more you spend, the more you will get
into trouble and cause conflict for yourself and other people.
The best way to spot a counterfeit trait is to become familiar with the
genuine trait. The more you know about the genuine traits, the better
you will become at spotting the counterfeit traits. The more you know
about the genuine traits, the easier it will become to use them.
Once
you learn to spot which of the counterfeit traits you have been spending,
it will be easier for you to stop spending them. The less you spend
counterfeit traits, the less you will have conflict in your life.
Solving Conflicts addresses 42 genuine character traits.
Right now, you already have all 42 of them in
your bank. You can call that your character savings account. They are
deposited there on the day of your birth. For your whole life, you have
been taking out withdrawals from your character bank. Each day of your
life, when you wake up in the morning, you have some of these traits
with you to spend. You probably have become very good at spending some
of them wisely.
However, you may have left some of the genuine
traits in your character savings account. You may have never made
a withdrawal of them, and you may have never learned to use them.
It is like having money in the bank, but never spending it. At any
time, you could withdraw your genuine character traits to spend.
It would be a benefit to you and to others. You are always just one
choice away from doing the right thing.
Which character traits have you been spending?
Which ones have you left in the bank?
Now, there is a bit of a problem. The bad news is that
there are large amounts of counterfeit character traits floating around. Some
of it has ended up in your character savings account. That is bad enough. However,
some of it may have ended up in your wallet to spend every day. How it got
there is less important than the simple fact that it is there right now.
Some people have been spending counterfeit traits their whole life. It is as
though they have never known the genuine traits. For them it is as common as
the counterfeit money was during the Civil War ...or worse! They have seen
so many counterfeit traits they no longer even know what the genuine traits
are like. When others pay them only in counterfeit traits, they may not have
a clue that they are not getting the genuine.
Part 2 of Solving Conflicts will...
- ... help you to identify your genuine character
traits. It will help you to see which you have been spending and which
you have left in your character savings account.
- ...will also help you to identify
which counterfeit traits you have been using. Each genuine trait has its
own set of counterfeit traits. (There is a good chance you have been spending
a counterfeit trait that you never knew had a genuine counterpart.)
- ...will also help you to learn
how to exchange the counterfeit trait into the genuine. That is very good
news.
One very important thing to consider:
The Secret Service tells us
what to do if we are ever passed counterfeit money. The first thing on the
list is do not return it to the passer. That is great advice!
Consider
this as well. If you are ever passed a counterfeit character trait by someone,
do not pass it back to the passer either! That is how you can avoid becoming
part of the conflict. If a friend or foe passes you a counterfeit trait,
pass them back a genuine trait instead.
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