Editorial March 31, 1973 Issue

Nipping Crime in the Bud

Naomi Price

The child is greatly blessed who is caught and corrected the very first time he is dishonest and takes something that does not belong to him. Even though he is very young indeed—a mere toddler—this lesson, if he heeds it, could be one of the most important he will ever have. Not only will it nip in the bud the ignorant and malicious tendency in the human mind to do wrong—even, later on, to act criminally. It may also remove an obstacle to his development of the strength and dominion native to every child of God. It may set his feet in the path of integrity that will take him safely and profitably through his whole human experience, since, as Mary Baker Eddy writes in Science and Health, "Honesty is spiritual power."^{Science and Health, p. 453;}

It is a serious mistake to believe anyone can benefit at all by stealing things that belong to others, any more than one can benefit from lying or cheating. Very much the reverse. Dishonesty in all its forms is disastrous. Mrs. Eddy says, "Dishonesty is human weakness, which forfeits divine help."1

So, it can never be a kindness to condone deceit of any kind, even in a small child. By glossing over a dishonest act, however trivial it may seem, one may be allowing him to be deprived for many years to come of the clear consciousness of his own spiritual worth and the dominion associated with integrity, which it is his right to enjoy.

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