{"id":291688,"date":"2009-09-16T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-16T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/i-could-not-betray-my-conscience\/"},"modified":"2024-05-13T20:39:55","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T18:39:55","slug":"i-could-not-betray-my-conscience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/i-could-not-betray-my-conscience\/","title":{"rendered":"I could not betray my conscience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>After I graduated in dentistry I wanted to start work straight  away.<\/strong> I love my job and I see it as an opportunity to build a better  society. I soon got offered a job, but I realised that it involved a compromise  that went against the ethics of my profession. The salary was really  attractive, and I needed the money, but I was even more certain that I could not  go against my conscience. I decided to turn down the offer.  <strong>At the same time, I was invited to start an educational  project<\/strong>, and to work as a teacher in a children\u2019s nursery. My  decision caused some consternation. My family and friends thought I was wasting  time and energy, and could not understand why I had turned down such a good  professional opportunity in order to be a \u201cnappy (diaper) changer\u201d. But I was  happy, because it gave me a real opportunity for building fraternity. In fact,  the experience was beautiful. There were a few of us, and we were trying to set  up a project that seemed like a seed of something great, answering the needs of  the district that we trying to serve.  <strong>To my surprise I was then offered a job as a dentist.<\/strong> The  experience of the nursery had given me a new vision of things, and my job was no  longer simply a way of fulfilling my personal ambitions, it now became an  opportunity to \u201cgive\u201d and to love. There were plenty of occasions when the  fundamental choices of my life were put to the test. For example, I was offered  the chance to earn more money, using some unethical methods. In the world I live  in, where the needs are great and there is a lot of corruption, those things  even appear \u201cnormal\u201d. But once again it was clear to me that I ought not to give  in to such a proposal.  <strong>On another occasion, a poor man came to the surgery<\/strong> that  none of my colleagues wanted to treat. I knew that Jesus was in that person, and  I could not treat him in a lesser way than I would treat Jesus himself. A  short time ago an amazing possibility emerged of setting up a dental clinic with  a person who shares the same ideals as me. We could set up our own business, and  give everyone a good and proper service, while adhering to the Economy of  Communion project! I saw this as the \u201chundredfold\u201d for having looked for the  kingdom of God! I am happy with this new project, where I can give of myself  completely in the building of a new society.  <em>(E. Venezuela)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Easy money or honesty? A young Venezuelan dentist facing a choice<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-291688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focolare-worldwide-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}