Blogger discovers ImHONEST.com

The passing of Ted Kennedy yesterday got me thinking . . . now is the time to launch the blog.  Americans will be mourning his loss, reflecting on his contributions, some will be thinking about his mistake at Chappaquiddick Island.  Agree or disagree with his politics, he had an impact shaping legislation over a long period in four keys areas: healthcare reform, anti-war, civil rights, immigration. To push that agenda, he relied on the same principles that a product I found depends on.

I discovered it one day when I was buying some software.  I came across the simplest, coolest thing. It’s just a label that you can put on your valuables so when someone finds it, all they have to do is go on the web page or call a toll-free number and this company handles the rest, returning it to the owner.  Now here’s what really closed the deal for me. It’s called ImHONEST.com and it actually helps people who are busy with their own lives do what most people want to do anyway. It is an online service that lets owners identify their valuables before they become lost and makes it easy for finders of lost items to act on their honesty and integrity.  On top of this, ImHONEST.com donates 20% of its online sales to charity.

ImHONEST.com online service attracted me instantly because it depends on the value of honesty. Everyone has lost a cherished item at one time or another.  You know the range of feelings: dismay, distress, horror.  If not, then you know someone who has lost something. It feels terrible when it dawns on you that it’s missing.  I like the way ImHONEST prevents this problem by putting a spot light on our interdependence on each other, on the purpose of fulfillment and the nature of altruism.  These are the sweet nectar of life.  You enjoy the sense that at the core of human nature is optimism, a life force to reach out and connect, to give a favor just because you can.  That is so cool.  You know what I mean, when you’ve done something, even when it’s for a stranger, not for the reward you anticipate, but for the fulfillment in yourself.  We don’t ordinarily think about what honesty means, but when we get tested and pass, fulfillment should be enough of a reward.

I believe ImHONEST has an intrinsically positive message for everyone that it touches because of its reliance on the principal of honesty and integrity.  It can be expressed a million plus ways.  Remember when someone acknowledges you with a small gesture?  It could be when someone in front of you lingers a bit and holds a door open . . . or when you’re on the road and the driver behind you in the next lane waves you on to merge lanes in front of them . . . or when your special friend gives you an invitation to go out on the town . . . or when you receive a postcard in the mailbox saying ‘hey it’s great knowing you . . .  or when you go to the lost and found to drop something off . . . or you go to LAF to pick something up and it’s there!  Why not reflect on how you feel and why that happened at those moments?  Why not make a greater effort to create those experiences every day?  A little extra effort is all that it takes.  It doesn’t have to cost money.  Why not try it now?

This Honest Intentions blog is meant as a platform to publish these types of messages.  We are going to build it, grow it, link it, spread it, and amplify it. What an exciting mission!