Word of honor.

I was disappointed to hear the news earlier this week about Brandon Davies being dismissed from the BYU basketball team for an Honor Code violation. I was disappointed as I watched the game against New Mexico

alone in my apartment last night. I am disappointed BYU probably won't end up playing as far as I thought they would in the college tournament this year. Of course, there is a feeling of disappointment among all BYU students and fans right now.

(I love this picture from the AP!)

But there are a few things I'm not disappointed about: I'm not disappointed Davies had the integrity to admit his mistake. I'm not disappointed BYU officials dismissed him from the team. And I'm not disappointed I signed the Honor Code as a freshman and every year after that. That is why I chose BYU. There is a higher standard. It is hard to live a moral life sometimes. But being clean and pure and wholesome feels so good,

even when losing doesn't. At the end of life, it won't matter what games we won, tests we passed,

job opportunities we were given, or titles we received. What will matter is how we lived what we believe. Every time I read these words hanging in the testing center at BYU, I get chills:

"I have been asked what I mean by word of honor. I will tell you.

Place me behind prison walls- walls of stone ever so high, ever so thick,

reaching ever so far into the ground- there is a possibility

that in some way or another I may be able to escape;

but stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me

and have me give my word of honor never to cross it.

Can I get out of that circle?

No, never! I'd die first!"

-Karl G. Maeser