Integrity

It's amazing how sometimes we can be walking along somewhere in neutral thought...drifting into space...not feeling a certain way about anything... and within a nano-second, something fires up your brain cells!

I was just getting into work today, still trying to completely wake up from my nightly slumber, and I looked at a framed quote on the wall that I have probably seen 100 times. For some reason or another, this passage really jumped out at me. When I was walking back to my computer, I remembered that I took a picture of it with my phone so I could refer back to it later. Well, today I feel called to do just that! Here is the quote:

The Courage of Integrity:

"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...These are the choices that measure your life. Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing."

WOW! That hit home! But why?...When I read something like it, depending on the day or the experience, I will either think "Yeah! That's right!!" or I might think "oh man...I need to make better decisions". Either way, why does something like this resonate with the human soul?

I'd like to break this down a little bit to see if I can uncover some truth here:

The choice of words here are interesting... the 'HIGHEST' courage is to 'DARE' to be 'YOURSELF' in the face of adversity.

Let's 1st take a look at the word "Courage"

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/courage

So, if courage is taking action in spite of fear, how is it that the highest courage is daring to be yourself in the face of adversity? One of the easiest things we do as humans, is deceive ourselves. That might be a personal opinion, but there is a good book called "Leadership & Self-Deception" by Arbinger Institute that wrote an entire book on, well, self-deception. So, understanding who you are and what you believe, and why you believe that, in my minds eye, will determine if you can "dare to be yourself" in the face of adversity! If you don't know yourself, you won't dare. If you don't know what you stand for, then you won't stand. The problem to me is this: where knowledge and beliefs are lacking, Fear has triumph. So, the lesson that I walk away with, is that the task of learning about and knowing yourself is one thing, and then not cowering or giving in once you KNOW the truth, even in the darkest moments, will require the now defined "highest courage"

"Choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and Truth over popularity...These are the choices that measure your life."

Alright...hold the phone...Choosing right over wrong? What's right? Isn't it hard to know what right is sometimes? Not EVERY time...I mean, if you had the choice of either steeling something from the store or paying for it, that seems obvious right? I'm talking, situations you are confronted with daily. For some people, telling the truth or not in "certain situations" can be in question. I'm not going to dig too far into this right now. This is a MUCH deeper topic and deserves an entire post. But what about ethics over convenience? What are "ethics"?

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ethics+

So basically, ethics is having a set of rules to abide by; a "moral code." What is that moral code? Well, digging into this truth like the difference between right and wrong go hand in hand. However, why can't we have convenience AND ethics? As the saying goes "Success is always on the other side of inconvenience" So, in other words, doing the right thing is synonymous with inconveniencing ourselves?...my gosh, how far could that go? What does this mean? Why does the quote say "Truth over popularity"? I heard another good quote that said (I'm going to para-phrase a little bit here) "If 1000 people all said something stupid or untrue, just because 1000 people said it doesn't automatically make it smart or true." or, better said would be "If 1000 people all said something dumb, it is STILL DUMB!!" *I'm smiling on this one...* :) In other words, Truth is NOT popular. If we are not 100% in tune with who we are, what we live for, and our beliefs, then I believe that we won't fully understand how or why to choose truth over popularity. We won't understand how to stand up for what's right. In the movie "Braveheart" William Wallace stood up for what he thought was right because he had his Bride taken from him. However, he had to Marry her in secret because they did not have the freedom to do so. As long as their secret marriage would have been untouched and no one would have known, they probably would have remained in their "comfort zone" and choose convenience over ethics. However, it took the most devastating adversity (Mrs Wallace being murdered) for William Wallace to stand up for what is right and lead tens of thousands to stand up for freedom! Knowing what you stand for and why will empower you to do these things: "Choose right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and Truth over popularity..." However, this information is only found in the journey! The journey begins when you turn the TV off, get off the couch, and search for your soul through books, dreams, truth, and service. What is your legacy? What do you believe? Why?

"Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing."

In all things, do the right thing! If you don't know what the right thing is, well, as the saying goes "hind site is 20/20" Learn from your mistakes. In the mean time, learn from other peoples mistakes so you don't have to make the same ones they did!

I have to constantly remind myself to do the right thing, even when unpopular, inconvenient, misunderstood, ridiculed, or even in the face of adversity. Truth always wins. Even when battles are lost, the wars are always won with truth.

Just blogging about this helps me to reflect. I can't believe how many times I've personally chosen convenience and comfort, popularity and/or the wrong thing... The more I learn about truth and develop my beliefs through my journey of life, the easier my choices become to have integrity and act with the highest courage by daring to face myself.

Please share your thoughts with me on this. I know it is very pregnant with content, but that's alright. What can we do to help uncover truth and live to our fullest potential?


God Bless!
-Larry Allswede