Paper Bag Check

My Daddy was an honorable man.  I remember one time he was in a store in Cody, and didn't have his checkbook, so he tore off a piece of brown paper bag, and wrote his "check" on that.  The merchant didn't hesitate to accept it.
I'm sure we have all heard the saying a man's word is his bond.  In the olden days, that would be when I was a kid, it actually meant something. Honor was held in high esteem.  It was well known throughout the community whose word was good and whose wasn't. Contracts, in those days were usually verbal and just sealed with a handshake.  For the honorable that was all that was needed. And Daddy was such a man.

"It was understood that if a man's word was no good, his "bond" therefore being no good, then he was no good either and he was not to be dealt with nor trusted. In those days this was a matter of severe disgrace. Honor meant something back then, and a man without honor was shamed. A man knew that if he was to be paid, he owed an honest day's work, and if he failed to give it, he didn't expect anything, as he had not earned it.  A man's character was all he had, and not to have a good character was a heavy burden to bear. A man without good character was looked down upon. He was "no count." A poor man of good character was more highly respected than a rich man without honor, and rightly so.

We live in an age now where not only is business no longer done with a handshake, but even a written contract is no good. Credit card companies, telephone companies, cell phone companies, mortgage companies, and other large businesses can change a written contract unilaterally, without notice, to your detriment, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it! In other words, a contract is no longer a contract. Where once a handshake constituted an iron-clad guarantee, now there are no guarantees at all! Honor, character, and a man's word, once more valued than gold, are largely anachronistic these days, reflecting the low level to which human relations in general have sunk in this Country. It is a sad state of affairs."Reflections

Ecclesiastes 5:5-6
It is better to say nothing than to make a promise and not keep it.
Don't let your mouth make you sin. And don't defend yourself by telling the Temple messenger that the promise you made was a mistake. That would make God angry, and he might wipe out everything you have achieved.