On Monday morning, I read one small paragraph story about a judge in Sydney who was sentenced to three years prison due to lying to the court about his previous mistakes. I was interested, so I tried to read his story again in the printed version of the newspaper in the Internet, but the document was too small to read. So I tried to google, with the key words “ judge, Sydney, speed limit, fine, prison“. And surprisingly just in 0.02 second there were over 2.000 results.
Here was the story in short..
His name was Marcus Einfeld, 70. He has been a leading human right lawyer for more than 30 years, serving as Federal Court judge for 15 years and a prominent member of the Jewish community. He was a Queen’s counsel, National Trust living treasure and a director of 13 companies and trusts, a patron of many organisation, president of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and a father of four children.
Well, a former Federal Court judge with a lot of credentials is also a human. So he made an error like what a human does. On January 8, 2006 his car was captured by a speed camera doing 60 km/h in a 50 km/h zone. If he drove in Jakarta, no one will even bother, unless you bump into someone’s car. However in Sydney, it was considered minor traffic offence, that caused $77 fine and three demerit points.
Normal response would be admitting the offense, pay the fine, got three additional demerit points and close the case. But it seems that it has never been the option for Mr. Einfeld. So, what the heck, I’ll blame it on my dead friend! In the court hearing in August 2006 (7 months after the offence), he declared in a 20-page statement that his friend, an American college professor Teresa Brennan, had been driving the car at that time.
Maybe Mr. Einfeld forgot that today there is no secret that can be hidden from the media, especially when you are a public figure. It did not take long before a Daily Telegraph reporter confronted him with the fact that Brennan had been dead for three years.
The story went on with him trying to make another excuse that eventually proven as lies. So, finally one minor traffic offense lead him to three years in prison. Not to mention the ruin of his good name, which will need much more longer than three years to restore.
Major Australian newspapers wrote various title from : Former judge Einfeld jailed over $77 speeding fine (Malcolm Knox,Sydney Morning Herald, March 20, 2009), A man without honour (Malcolm Knox,Sydney Morning Herald, March 21, 2009), Jail completes Marcus Einfeld's fall (Michael Pelly, The Australian, March 20, 2009).
Maybe he should have not picked a person who has deceased three years before the accident as a scapegoat, or he should have just admitted the fault. Just can’t imagine why he should bother to lie over this minor offense, which if admitted, would not cause disgrace for him, his family and friends, or what one article said "a spectacular fall from grace for the man once hailed a national "living treasure" (Michael Pelly, The Australian, March 20, 2009).
One of the article mentioned that should Mr. Einfeld admitted his offense, he would have three additional demerit points to his previous 6 demerit points. It was one shy from having his driving license revoked and not being able to enjoy driving his car anywhere and anytime. Well, there was one motive, or maybe lying has become a habit in his life.
Does lying have lower consequence than breaking the traffic regulation? It is so easy to do even by 2 years old child until 90 years old grandpa, from a housewife, taxi driver, a businessman to a president.
I am not a saint myself. Sometimes I only say half truth to my customer, then on another day one lies just come out of my mouth to please someone, or to escape from my promise. At first I feel guilty, but as time goes by, when I did it again, the easier for me to spell a lie. And it scares me...I don’t want to be the next Marcus Einfeld or other great person who falls from grace because of lying. There are so many living examples around us.
Jesus said “Let your Yes be simply Yes and your No be simply No; anything more than that comes from the evil one” ( Matthew 5:37, The Amplified Bible). One thing I learn from this story is every word we say has consequence, either it is a truth or a lie. Maybe no one will ever caught up our lies until we die, but there is nothing hidden before our Lord and our own heart.
At the end, the lesson I learned today is to ask my Lord to guard my thoughts and give me wisdom on what I should say to people who connect with me. As far as my part, I promise to be truthful to myself, to Him and to others around me
Article source :
· Former judge Einfeld jailed over $77 speeding fine (Malcolm Knox,Sydney Morning Herald, March 20, 2009),
· A man without honour (Malcolm Knox,Sydney Morning Herald, March 21, 2009),
· Jail completes Marcus Einfeld's fall (Michael Pelly, The Australian, March 20, 2009).
No comments:
Post a Comment