With a Clear Conscience

Keep a clear conscience before God

so that when people throw mud at you,

none of it will stick.  They'll end up realizing

that they're the ones who need a bath.

1 Peter 3:16

Sometimes it seems like all I do is work, work, work, and in my spare time, run errands.  I try very hard not to complain however, for I am very grateful that I have a good job that I enjoy, and a part-time coaching position at a local high school that I also really like.  Both of my jobs involve teaching, but the high school job includes interaction in the classroom.

One of my daughters is also a teacher, as an adjunct professor at a local university, and as a professional tutor in the surrounding counties near her home.  She also loves to teach - at least most of the time.  However, this semester, two women in one of her classes were being extremely disrespectful in class to the point that she finally had to deal with the situation.  They, in turn, filed a complaint against her with the administration, alleging all kinds of things about her as a teacher that were completely false, including them asking her for help, and she telling them that she had no time for them and to go hire a tutor.

My daughter called me in tears, hurt and worried about the administration's ability to dig through the garbage and discover the truth.  After spending a few moments calming her down, I said, "Hey - when questioned, what will the rest of your class about these charges."  She paused for a moment, and then said, "They will all say that the charges are not true."  She has always been an excellent instructor, willing to bend over backwards to help a student understand and learn.  She is kind and polite to her students, fair to a fault, and wouldn't dream of being rude or unkind to anyone.  I advised her to just wait a time with patience and let the administration do their work.  

Sure enough, the next week at class, one of the women came up to admit her fault, profusely apologize and ask if they could just start over in their teacher/student relationship.  There was never a question with the administrators as to who was in the wrong.  My daughter has proven her character and professionalism as a teacher time and time again, and when the chips were down, she could face the accusations with a clear conscience.