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NOTICE
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I trust you
will not take credit for my writing and will practice the
integrity
the material speaks about in any desire to quote my work.
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According to
Merriam Webster, integrity is:
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firm adherence to a code of especially
moral or artistic values : INCORRUPTIBILITY |
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an unimpaired condition: SOUNDNESS |
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the quality or state of being
complete or undivided: COMPLETENESS |
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synonym see HONESTY |
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This information has been used by country, state,
county and city governments, quoted in a book, used by pastors, priests,
junior high, high school and college students, police chiefs, fire
fighters, professors, teachers, rehab directors and three Fortune
500 companies--including Sears--for research papers, doctoral dissertations,
newsletters, employee training manuals, behavioral manuals and general
information for family and friends of those requesting permission
to use the material. |
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According to
Oxford Dictionary, (the origin of) integrity is:
| integrity / ntegriti
/ — ORIGIN
- Latin: integritas; from integer ‘intact, whole’.
Noun
• 1 - the quality of being honest and morally upright.
• 2 - the state of being whole
or unified.
• 3 - soundness of construction.
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A few thoughts on the matter
The following information is simply
an opinion based on life experiences and a personal understanding of truth
and honesty--which are part of the foundational aspects of true integrity.
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Integrity
is a skill
As with all skills, they're developed and learned over time. For
example, few people have an inherent skill in math and most people must learn
the rules and exceptions associated with math to finally get a grasp on the
concept. As a result, math is learned after repeating special techniques
over and over including doing some memorization. This is also true with Integrity.
Training
A qualified carpenter must endure years of training, practice and
exposure to building materials and circumstances that call for his talent.
Integrity must also endure years of practice and exposure, for integrity is
NOT necessarily inherent within a person's personality. Instead, integrity
is a trait that is taught and learned over an entire lifetime.
Point of reference
Integrity is a guideline, a benchmark, a point of reference or
a goal that is used to make decisions that rely on truth and honesty. All
things are related to this point of reference and judged accordingly. To maintain
integrity, you must remember to refer to truth and honesty in ALL decisions,
thoughts, actions and reactions. That's not an option if you are to have and
maintain integrity.
A great tower
Integrity is something that a person builds and maintains during
a lifetime. You can consider integrity as a building within a person's heart
that starts when the person is young. This "building" begins with the first
hole that is dug. Once the hole is dug, the foundation is laid--usually by
parents and other leaders (church and school instructors). The walls follow
with windows and doors added along the way. The windows would allow for transparency
and serve as a type of checks-and-balances. The doors would allow for modifications
of a person's definition of integrity to easily take place--hopefully for
the better. The roof is added later and serves to protect from outside forces.
Re-building
Just as you can re-build a house when it falls down, so too can
you re-establish integrity if you fall away from it's blessings.
Tomorrow is a new
day
Leaving the past where it is, picking up the pieces and moving
on is critical if you choose to "turn over a new leaf." Keys that lead to
success in this endeavor include 1) understanding, 2) grasping the reigns
tightly and 3) implementing a new and improved plan that allows tomorrow
to be a clean slate for you to work with. Let the past go and concentrate
on the present and the future.
Looking back is important for
learning from our mistakes...but leave it at that. Don't bring the past into
the future for any other reason, if it's tainted in any way. Make new memories.
Memories that are ethical and moral. Memories that blare and echo with integrity.
A plant
Integrity can also be considered as a seed. It is planted in youth,
watered in childhood and blossoms in adulthood. The more you water it throughout
life, the more it grows and blooms. Just as it is with plants, if neglected
at any point, it WILL wither and die. If your plant has died, simply plant
a new seed and water it daily! Note that a plant does not blossom immediately
but must go through a life cycle first. So, integrity will take a while to
get used to...again.
Maintenance
Integrity must be maintained. A janitor cleans and straightens
rooms for a living. You must be a janitor and maintain true integrity. If
you avoid the dust that settles, your definition of integrity begins to diminish
and decrease in value. A strict maintenance schedule must be kept or what
has taken a lifetime to build will come crumbling down in minutes.
Loss
It's critical to note that integrity can be lost or compromised
beyond recognition in a person's life. I've been there and am in the process
of re-establishing integrity in my life...and it's not easy. Recognizing that
integrity has been compromised or is totally lost from your life is the first
step of many. The second step is to do something about it--and that would
be to make the decision to plant a new seed and water it daily...even minute-to-minute.
Holding up
to the test
Consider a cup that cannot hold water. A person that lives their
life without integrity is like that cup. The crack may be invisible to the
eye, but if it doesn't hold up to the test, it's virtually worthless. Many
people walk around with a small crack that is easily hidden, but time reveals
their flaw.
Honesty
...a totally separate issue that definitely applies to real integrity.
To be honest is to apply integrity to a situation or instance. The two go
hand-in-hand without exception or separation. There are few things that complicate
an issue or hurt more than dishonesty. At least honesty leaves a person with
some sense of closure and dignity...despite the fact that it may sometimes
really hurt to know the truth.
The role of integrity
in "love"
Integrity helps to define love. Although many things collectively
define love, Integrity is a little different in that it plays a unique role.
Integrity acts as a binder of the many things that help to describe the meaning
of love. Integrity helps to keep all the things that make up love, together
so that love is constant and pure. Without a binder such as water, bread would
be nothing more than baked powder with seasoning. Paper would be a collection
of loose fibers.
Integrity can help to define
you by acting as a binder that keeps your words, your thoughts and your actions
honest, worthy and admirable.
Other definitions
People can tweak or modify their definition of integrity to suit
their needs, desires and ambitions at the time. For that reason, it's possible
to have a large number of definitions of the word or state of affairs in a
person's life--but that doesn't necessarily mean they're all sound definitions.
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Integrity
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Integrity
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Benefits
Integrity always benefits a person, but the benefit is NOT always
immediately recognizable. In fact, some times the benefits of Integrity are
not obvious for many years down the road. It's possible for a person to live
most of their lives and not see the benefits of integrity until late in life.
It's different for everyone and doesn't mean it's better or worse for you,
it just means it's different, that's all.
Notice
As a side note, please know that in many cases, "things are not
as they appear."
Experiences
Integrity is NOT a one time experience or situation. Instead,
Integrity is an on-going experience of a collection of situations where
sound decisions are made based on good judgment, discernment, wisdom and knowledge.
By-Products
Integrity has its by-products. As you become more familiar with
a lifestyle that allows for integrity to bloom wild and free, life is usually
filled with more and more peace--a by-product. After a while of on-going decisions
guided by integrity, people begin to take notice. Employers begin to place
more trust in you and your abilities. Friends rely more and more on your apparent
wisdom. Better decisions lead to a better life.
Misdirected
hate
As a direct result of your decision to establish integrity within
yourself, you will gain favor with many people. Others will hate you for it--another
by-product. People hate other people for the weirdest reasons. Someone dedicated
to truth and honesty is a typical target. There are many reasons for this
misdirected hate, but the most common reason is their own insecurity (referring
to the person who hates). People WILL be threatened by you because of your
decision to maintain integrity.
Personal definition
This personal definition of integrity is an attempt to offer an
unbiased presentation of what integrity can and cannot mean. That is to say
this definition of integrity:
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should help to
answer some of the many questions people may have about integrity and
the possible role it may play in a person's life, decision making, thoughts,
actions and destiny.
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The great
cathedral
Remember, you can live life the way you want, for good or for evil.
But I'd like to suggest the following story for your consideration:
Back in the middle ages (1200-1600
A.D.) a great cathedral was being built by many skilled laborers. One
day a strange man came to town and asked each of the men what they were doing.
One man answered, "I have to
lay this brick to feed my nagging wife and my many ungrateful children."
Another answered by saying,
"I'm just trying to pass the time until I die and at the same time keep myself
afloat."
Another man said, "I'm following
my father's footsteps and doing what I'm told."
An old man answered, "I am a
mason, this is what I do."
Yet another man was heard saying,
"I do this because I have many debts to pay."
Then the stranger saw a young
man laying brick who was working feverishly unlike the other workers.
Intrigued, the stranger questioned this young man next.
After being questioned, the
young brick layer stopped, starred at the yet unfinished building and
answered by saying, "I'm taking part in the greatest building project in history.
A cathedral unlike any other in the world. One of surpassing beauty
and size. This cathedral will be the greatest the world has ever seen.
I'm only laying the block, but
my efforts will help this great cathedral to stand the test of time so future
generations can marvel at and appreciate it's awesome beauty."
Needless to say, the previous
story about the building of the cathedral reveals that it's not what you
have to do, it's not what you want to do or what you think
you should do, but it's about how you do
all things in life.
How you do what you have
to do, how you do what you want to do, and how you do what you think
you should do, will determine your success. You'll "have to do things,"
you'll "want to do things," and you'll "think you should do things" your whole
life, but it's the quality of how you do them that really matters.
Integrity plays a critical part
in quality decisions, thoughts and actions. It'll be obvious in how
you act and react to expected and unexpected circumstances.
The "Gifted" Musician
Everybody enjoys one or several types of music, regardless of their
sex, culture, age or beliefs. Music is truly one of the few universal avenues
to express yourself to where others will consider your art despite who you
might be in their eyes.
Most people only enjoy listening
to music, but few enjoy listening and creating music. Some musicians are good,
some are better and then there are those who are exceptionally good--considered
to have the "gift" of music. But even they have to practice.
I attended a concert recently
where a fan of the featured musician anxiously walked up to his favorite performer
and said;
"you're an outstanding musician!"
The artist replied by saying;
"thank you, I appreciate
you saying so. I practice every day."
Just as the great musician must
practice everyday to maintain his high level of artistic talent, so too must
we practice implementing integrity into our every-day lives.
Remembering
Allowing integrity to seep out only every now-and-then is not acceptable if
we are to benefit fully from the blessing that integrity has to offer over
a lifetime.
Integrity should be allowed
to flow freely in the mainstream of our thoughts and actions. That, realistically,
does not happen over night. It's a decision we must make every morning after
we wake up. It's a decision we need to "remember" to
make every morning after we wake up.
Studies show that if you do
something twenty-one times in a row (but not like a robot in immediate succession),
that "function" should be ingrained enough to where it becomes second nature
after a while.
A simple note on the bathroom
mirror, one just above the door knob of your bedroom or some other place where
you're sure to see it every morning--for 21 days--should do the trick. Give
it a shot.
A wonderful
life
Choosing a wonderful life over (just) life can make the difference
between success and failure, peace and chaos, love and hate, and integrity
plays a key role in those decisions.
Chose to be like the young man
laying the brick to build what he believes to be the greatest cathedral in
the whole world.
Chose to plant a seed that will
become the immovable oak.
Chose to be like the janitor
that maintains a clean household.
Chose to be a cup that can hold
water and is half full instead of half empty.
You can do it, it's as simple
as a decision--one of many that will be based on wisdom, good judgment, discernment
and knowledge.
Chose to incorporate integrity
in your life today.
That, my friend,
is integrity.
Defining Integrity
In a nutshell...or in this case, in
a fortune cookie.
The other day I was having lunch
with two friends at a Chinese restaurant in Flagstaff, Arizona when I received
an interesting "fortune" from the traditional after-dinner fortune cookie
(that I usually smash on the table, work through the pieces for the "fortune,"
then consider the alleged "fortune" and toss what's left--I don't like the
cookie, just the fortune):
On this particular day the unusually
unique "fortune" read:
"Integrity is doing the right
thing, even if nobody is watching."
After I stopped coughing and
finally got some air as a result of the shock of reading something so prevalent
in my constant search to define words that I want to apply to my life, I realized
that this "fortune" was by far the most profound, applicable and true "fortune"
cookie I had ever received.
Such a simple yet concise definition
of the word integrity from a fortune cookie? I could hardly believe it!
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~ NOTICE ~
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I trust you
will not take credit for my writing and will practice the integrity
the material speaks about in your desire to quote my work.
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