The Value of Integrity
“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.”
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
You are alone. No one can see you, nor can you see anyone. There is money sitting in front of you; someone else’s money. You know it doesn’t belong to you, and you know it would be wrong for you to take it. But do you take it? In reality, most of us would. If no one sees us, we believe that makes it okay. But what really matters; if others know you took it, or if you know you took it? The truth is, you don’t always have to face people, but you always have to face yourself. For your guilt is much greater than what people think of you. Others’ thoughts don’t define us. But ours do.
This is what integrity truly means. It is not simply about being honest when honesty is convenient, nor is it about doing the right thing when someone is there to reward you for it. Integrity is the consistency between what we believe, and what we do. It is choosing to follow our own principles, even when breaking them would be convenient to us. Anyone can appear to have good values while they are being watched. The true test is if those values remain when there is no audience to observe.
Integrity is rarely tested upon one major decision. Rather, it is tested through what appear to be the smallest points of our lives. That can mean choosing the more difficult path because it’s better in the long run, being honest not because it's good for you, but because it’s right, and many more things. All these little things seem tiny from our perspective, but when they all add up together, they can be much bigger than one large thing.
You see, when we begin to make small, honorable choices, it adds to our character. How, you may ask? The truth is, our materials don’t define us. Nor do other people’s perspectives of us. Simply doing the right thing because we decided to do so, makes us better people every day. We don’t need an app to see our character become greater. Sometimes, we don’t need to see things, we just need to feel them in our heart. This sounds cliché, but it helps give us a sense of happiness and pride through doing what’s right. The truth is, you are not defined by what you do when people are looking. You are defined by what you do when they aren’t. Thank you for reading Social Science 43, and have an honorable day.
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