Tuesday Morning Minutes

A dad’s lesson in integrity

A father who had been laid off from his job had been watching expenses closely for months. But he’d made a promise to his two sons—twins—that he’d take them to a nearby amusement park for their 10th birthday.

When the day came, the father withdrew some money from his savings, and he took his two sons on the bus to the amusement park. When they reached the front gate, he saw a sign:

• “General admission: (ages 10 and up) $10.”
• “Children under 10: $5.”

If he’d come a day earlier, the father realized, he could have saved 10 dollars—five for each of his twin sons. But with a sigh he led the boys up to the ticket window and said, “Three general admission tickets, please.”

The woman in the booth looked them over and smiled. “How old are your boys?”

        “I’m 10 years old today,” said one son.

        “So am I,” said the other. “We’re twins!”

The woman leaned forward. “You know,” she whispered, “you could have asked for two ‘Under 10’ tickets, and I never would have known.”

“Yeah,” said the father, “but they would have.”