Elder John was a highly respected man in the village. People went to him when they needed clarity about life or to even resolve issues with others. He was held in high esteem by virtually everyone in the village.
Every Monday morning, Elder John would stand at the village square to preach to everyone about good virtues. He usually hammered on the importance of being honourable.
"A good reputation is more valuable than anything" Elder John would say.
The villagers would gather around to hear Elder John's teachings. Even those passing by usually stopped for a few minutes to listen to him.
One beautiful Monday Morning, Elder John stood at the village as early as 7am. It was his usual time. The weather was perfect. The trees danced as the wind blew. People were already gathered, eager for what he had to teach.
Silence filled the air as everyone looked on. Next, Elder John began his teaching.
"Today I will be talking about integrity. Integrity is something you must have. No one should sacrifice their integrity for anything" Elder John spoke with charisma.
Caleb sat in front of Elder John. He is a young man who always listened to Elder John. Caleb loved his teachings. To Caleb, Elder John was a role model. Caleb looked up to him. He admired him very much.
As Elder John spoke about integrity that morning, Caleb listened earnestly, carefully assimilating everything he said.
Caleb worked at the village's corn store. He was one of the diligent workers there. He was one of those who arranged the corn in baskets. That night, Caleb counted the number of corn baskets. He discovered that two baskets were missing. This was worrying.
Caleb had observed that week that baskets of corn were going missing. He thought that maybe there was a mistake or miscalculation somewhere, so he shrugged it off. But now, this was too obvious to ignore. He came to the conclusion that someone was stealing corn.
He didn't want to tell anyone yet because he didn't know who it was. It could be anyone. Caleb thought about telling Elder John who was in charge of the Village corn store. Elder John had the key to the store.
Caleb decided not to tell Elder John yet until he found out the person stealing corn. At least he would have something concrete to tell Elder John by then.
Caleb devised a plan on how to catch the corn thief. The next day, Caleb waited until work was over for the day. Everyone had left the store. Then he locked himself inside the store, waiting patiently to catch the thief.
By the peak of midnight, the door opened. What Caleb saw next shocked him to the bone. It was Elder John who came in. He carefully opened the door and closed it to avoid making much noise.
He came with bags, and quickly, he began putting the corns into the bags. Caleb could not believe his eyes. He watched as Elder John was in the process of stealing corn. He thought about stepping in to catch Elder John but he believed no one would believe him that night.
So he decided to wait. He watched as Elder John emptied baskets of corn into the bags and took them away.
Over the next set of days, Caleb was conflicted within himself. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to expose Elder John. He couldn't believe the man he looked up to was such a hypocrite.
Soon, it was Monday again. In his usual fashion, Elder John was already at the village square as early as 7am. Many people were gathered.
"This morning, I will talk about honour" Elder John began.
"Your honour is worth preserving. You have to do everything you can to preserve your honour" Elder John said.
"So why then do you tarnish your honour?" Caleb said from the crowd as he could no longer take what Elder John was saying.
At this point, there were already mumblings in the background.
"What do you mean Caleb?" Elder John asked with confusion visibly written all over his face.
"You have been stealing corn from the corn store" Caleb said blatantly.
The crowd gasped in surprise.
"This is a heavy allegation, young man. I have done no such thing" Elder John replied.
"I have noticed that corn has been going missing for some days now. It must be true" a lady from the crowd, who also worked at the store blurted out.
More people came out to confirm the same thing. At this point, Elder John realized that he can no longer deny it.
"Yes, I have been the one taking the corn. I'm really sorry. I got blinded by greed" Elder John said.
The crowd was angry, and they began dispersing. It was obvious now that Elder John had lost his credibility. No one would ever believe what he preached. He didn't even practice them himself.
Elder John was made to return the corn he stole while he lived in regret as the village regarded him less.