A close friend asked me to write something about integrity and the first thing I discovered from Siddhartha Gautama is that, "Integrity is everything." 😯 Wow.
When we think of someone with a lot of integrity, we usually picture someone who is morally upright - they honor the values and principles that they believe in. Conversely, someone with little integrity is usually seen as a person, male or female, who doesn't really value much in the first place, and what little they do value, they don't honor.
Politicians are frequently blasted for making promises and then not following through with them. Or they flip-flop on different issues, one day supporting one position and then, when the wind is blowing in a different direction, or there is an election coming, they change their viewpoint. Then we find it hard to trust them anymore because they don't honor their words.
We admire the Carpenter from Nazareth because he stood up to powerful men who had the power to kill him. He stuck to his guns until the bitter end; he did not turn away from doing what he felt his father told him. Not only did he honor his word, he was actually called "The Word." The word made flesh was a man of the highest integrity.
49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem because he felt it did not honor black people to praise the flag when his people were being denied basic rights. His actions started a movement among athletes but it also cost him his football career.
Honoring your word may cost you something but it will cost far more to trash your character in favor of following the path of least resistance. What we say has the power to heal or to wound, so our words must be real in order for people to respect and trust us. 🏆
"This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."
- Polonius, Shakespeare's Hamlet
Comments