Written by: Steve Sisler. An excerpt from “Without Wax,” a subtitle taken from Gumnazo; lessons in fighting naked – to be released in 2011. Follow me on Twitter.

The history of the phrase “without wax” is an interesting one – it actually fascinates me. “Without wax” stems from the Latin words “sin” (without) and “ceras” (wax) and was often said to be the origin of the English word “sincerity.”

The story went something like this; the phrase first became widespread during the height of Roman and Greek artistry, when sculpture first became a popular artistic medium. When a sculpture had a defect, artists would fill in the whittle mark with colored wax to match the marble or stone so the deformity would go unnoticed.

Wax was said to serve as cover-up, masking these imperfections on what was most likely substandard pottery. An arguably perfect or superior piece of work was therefore “without wax” because it was void of the need to cover its imperfections – it was considered already perfect. Pottery and sculptures were even said to be stamped with the phrase “without wax” (sin ceras) as proof of authenticity much like signing a letter with the word sincerely today.

This is how I want to live… without wax. Without trying to make myself appear differently than I actually am. If I were a sculpture with wax on it, I would feel like a fraud – like a fake sculpture. When I went on the first date with Anita who has been my wife now for almost 27 years, I decided to be sincere forever. And so I have been… I’ve been sincere ever since… without wax. I still make terrible mistakes, but I admit them and embrace the fact that it’s very possible I could do it again. Coming across like I’m healed of imperfection has had disastrous effects anyway – it would be stupid to think doing that is healthy or helpful in any way.

Unfortunately, words like honor, honesty, integrity and truth no longer define our young people as they once did in the days of the maid (Jeanne d’Arc ca. 1412-1431) or in the 50’s. With the avalanche of corporate scandals rocking the business world and family breakdowns, we have come to expect and almost welcome their arrival on a weekly basis. I’m sure there have always been people living in alternate worlds, but I think most live alternate lives along with the real one these days.

Companies like Adelphia Communications, which was fiscally hijacked by its founding family to the tune of 3.1 billion dollars in off-balance sheet loans or WorldCom whom overstated cash flow by booking 3.8 billion dollars in operating expenses as capital expenses and gave its founder 400 million in off-the-book loans. The company stunned Wall Street when another 3.3 billion in improperly booked funds was discovered later on in the investigation.1 Money does real bad things to most people I’m afraid. No wonder that guy in Proverbs 30 (Agur) begged God to keep him from becoming too rich. He also claimed to be the stupidest man alive; I’m not sure which thought to dwell on.

The idea of trusting corporate leadership in today’s market place or trusting kids during test time in school makes the blood drain from our faces at an alarming rate. Insider-trading allegations, fraud and other transgressions are plaguing our nation with a vengeance as men and woman in leadership continue to bilk society for more while bragging about their conquest. Its like people are starving for weirdness with an insatiable desire for more; begging for it to be more precise. According to a 2002 confidential survey of 12,000 high school students, 74 percent admitted cheating on an examination at least once in the past year.2 The Old Testament prophet’s words have come true; judgment is turned away backward and truth has fallen in the streets.

What are people thinking? We are being overcome with wax! It’s running in our streets and ruining our society – have we become substandard? A more interesting question might be, “What do you think is making everyone feel like they have to cheat on tests?” answering that question may be the smartest thing we endeavor to do. Someone recently told me about a teacher who said, “Every problem evolves out of unmet needs.” And I agree. Rather than meet peoples needs, we try to fix the problems caused by the unmet needs and in this convoluted process we neglect to discover the needs altogether. The needs are never the focus; only the accompanying fallout receives the greater attention. This seems logical in hindsight, but it’s a formidable mystery in foresight. Imagine if your child, mate or your friend had a problem and all you did was tell them to stop it or that it wasn’t a good idea to have that kind of problem.

The “What’s your problem?” question is always the first responder. That’s genius right? No! But that’s what we do! What if we asked enough questions in order to uncover the need that was being neglected and hidden under the problem and then we made every effort to meet their need for them because we cared about them and loved them? I wonder if the problem would persist, or go away. This is the process of uncovering, discovering andrecovering the needs in the lives of others.

It’s time to turn the tide. It begins with you – in your home, your school, and your business and in your community. It’s time to lead without wax. It’s time to become a super hero. It’s time to make the most enormous difference you can.