Every day, we are confronted with little tests of integrity—both subtle and obvious. I remember being placed in a very critical situation a year ago. It was an incident that truly placed my integrity under scrutiny check. The situation asked me to choose between friendship and fighting what is right and just. A friend of mine, whom I strongly feel connected, was accused of a heinous crime. The victims came to me personally and after looking into the veracity of the situation—I was made to choose: to report the incident to authorities and suffer the after effect of this act to my friendship with the accused, or remain quiet and defend my friend but feel morally defeated. I chose the hardest one: fight for the victims even if it will shake off my friendship. It was difficult but I always believe that integrity is one of the few things in my life that no one can ever be able to forcefully take away from me. Integrity is self worth. My choices were my own. In the end, it's all a matter of personal accountability.
It isn't always easy to maintain integrity especially if people close to you are involved and connected, but it is gratifying to know that in the end you can be proud of what you do and you don't compromise yourself in a world full of compromises. You don't sell out. You are valuable and worthy and strong in your convictions. What always matter is that we are defined by our actions. If I take something that doesn't belong to me, I am a thief. If I cheat, I am a cheater. If I fight for what is wrong and unjust then I am an accomplice. The highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity. Choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and truth over popularity.
According to the Josephson Institute of Ethics the word INTEGRITY comes from the same Latin root as 'integer,' or whole number. Like a whole number, a person of integrity is undivided and complete. This means that the ethical person acts according to her beliefs, not according to expediency. She is also consistent. There is no difference in the way she makes decisions from situation to situation; her principles don't vary at work or at home, in public or alone. Because she must know who she is and what she values, the person of integrity takes time for self-reflection, so that the events, crises and seeming necessities of the day do not determine the course of her moral life. She stays in control. She may be courteous, even charming, but she is never duplicitous. She never demeans herself with obsequious behavior toward those she thinks might do her some good. She is trusted because you know who she is: what you see is what you get.
