Does anyone remember the Ford Pinto?

Maybe you owned one.  If so, we're glad you're alive to remember.  Not everyone who drove a Pinto was so fortunate.

Back in the late 60's/early 70's Ford designed and released their entry into the subcompact car market.  And over 2 million people bought one of the three models available.  But then the accidents started happening.   And Pintos started catching on fire or even exploding.  People started asking questions.

Design flaws in the car left too little "crush space" between the rear bumper and the fuel tank.  Rear end collisions often resulted in punctured tanks, and turned the car into an inferno.  Many people lost their lives as a result.

Lawsuits were filed - and an investigative magazine supposedly turned up a memo showing that Ford executives were aware of the problem, but chose not to fix it.  According to the memo an $11 repair would have solved the problem - but recalling over 2 million Pintos would have cost the company $121 million.  They estimated the costs of settling lawsuits would be cheaper, and so they played the cover-up game.

There is debate as to the veracity of this story, but the negative publicity generated had a huge negative affect on Ford's image.  The story does, however, demonstrate a danger that Solomon talked about.

28:13  He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

We all mess up.  Sometimes it's just a little thing - maybe something we forgot to do.  Sometimes it's a big thing - and we're really embarrassed by our failure.  So what do we do?  We try to cover it up.  Hope no one notices.  Hope no one asks.

We have our little strategies for doing so. 

• Sometimes we lie (we call them fibs; it just sounds nicer). 
• Sometimes we make excuses. 
• Sometimes we blame shift. 
• Sometimes we try to distract and misdirect. 

But all of these are bad strategies.

Read Proverbs 28

There is a better plan for dealing with failure - whether it's a minor infraction or a serious sin.  It's called confession.  Owning up to what you did.  Taking the blame because it was your fault.

The truth is going to come out.  Sure, you're going to look bad if you admit to your failure.  But you will look even worse if you try to cover it up.  And by doing so, you have compounded the failure. 

We all fail.  To some degree, we expect others to fail.  Strangely, when others fail and confess it, our estimation of them goes up, rather that down.  Maybe it's because we can picture ourselves in the same situation.  But we need to remember that.

Every time we mess up, we have a choice.  We can try to fool people and hope they don't notice, or we can just admit to it, confess it, find some mercy, and move on.

Today's wisdom:

When you mess up, 'fess up.

Brent Wood