“Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.”
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W. Clement Stone
There are times in life when we need to find our own truth, our own meaning, and apply it to our lives. We find ourselves exposed to words which might have a specific definition in a dictionary, but we know there is more to it. During these last few years, I have found myself exposed to the word “integrity”. The dictionary defines it as the “state of being whole”. But, what does it really mean to be whole? Life has taught me what integrity is. For me, integrity is the value of a person, and the respect that individual has for this value. The reason that I decided to choose this word is because I am exposed to it every day during this stage of my life.

Integrity is composed of two parts. The first one is the value of a person. I personally believe we are all born as people with integrity. When we are born, we have done no harm to anyone, have said no lie, and have done nothing wrong. We are completely innocent people, but we haven’t done any good either. The value of a person is composed of many elements. There has to be consistency between morals, ethics, thought, principles and action. Probably the most influential people that shape our integrity are family members. We grow up with them, and they teach us the most important things in life. Unfortunately though, some families which have not had a proper education have unstable values. Still, most of us know the difference between good and bad. We know deep inside that what we do will have a consequence. Are we being true to ourselves and others when making a decision? Are we being true to our values, our
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morals and ethics? Just as popular wisdom states; “Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching.” If we do so, then we are individuals with integrity. We must also understand that we are valuable people, and nobody should ever try to blemish integrity. If we do not respect ourselves, we can’t expect others to do so either.

Bad influences, impulsiveness and a lack of judgment can destroy our integrity in a second. It’s just the way it is. It takes a lifetime to build something, but it can disappear immediately. This is why we should think before we act. I have found out that it is hard to maintain our integrity as a whole during teenage years. It is the age in which people try to introduce us to vices, such as alcohol and drugs. These are the years in which we let hormones do the thinking, instead of our brains. We are tempted to make out a lot, be involved with different guys or girls, and eventually get into more serious stuff which has no positive outcome. We become too impulsive. This is when our reputation can also become part of the game, because we face the reality of losing. I myself can tell how hard it is to maintain a good reputation. Teenagers like to talk about others, especially when we make mistakes. We always remember what we do wrong, but never remember the good things we have done. It is sad, but true. It is important to think things through before making a decision, because the outcome might be painful and long-lasting.

Integrity is definitely a hard word to define, but it is important to at least understand the concept of integrity. Although it is impossible to never corrupt it, the goal is to try to harm it the least, and learn from the times we do so in order to avoid repeating the same mistake twice. After all, as Alanis Morissette says, “We live, we learn”.