Integrity_and_How_It_Effects_Me

Integrity and How It Effects Me and Everyone Around Me By AS2(AW) Matthew Schutte Webster's dictionary defines integrity as "uncompromising adherence to a code of moral, artistic or other values; utter sincerity, honesty and candor, avoidance of deception, expediency, or shallowness of any kind" Let us exam this definition a bit deeper. The first part of the definition talks of uncompromising adherence. This means that one would always choose the "right" path, regardless of what seems to be more appealing. Take the example of when and when not to lie. A person of integrity would always tell the truth regardless of the situation. The second part of the definition deals with what to avoid. Integrity demands complete openness always. The leader of integrity would never try to knowingly deceive his constituents at any time. The leader would always be open and honest. It is something that compels someone to make the right choice in a tough situation. It is a little voice in your head that tells you when your making a poor decision. I chose to ignore that little voice in my head and I have destroyed my character, which is greatly reflected upon who I am as a person and my personal integrity. It is so easy for us to ignore that little voice and make a poor decision just because that path looks a lot easier in the beginning. But as you keep walking that path, you soon find that it is not as easy as it seemed at first, and then all at once things just cave in on you, and you wind up finding yourself in a place that has become very dark and rough. Which is exactly what happened to me, I chose to take the path that looked easier at first. And I accomplished this by lying. A lie is defined as an untrue statement with intent to deceive. And that is exactly what I did. I created an untrue statement and attempted to deceive my chain of command in order to get to that easier path. I failed to act on my core commitments, through the weakness of my will, my cowardice, and my ignorance. In the bible, It is quoted in Luke, chapter 6, verse 31, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. It is also known as the “Golden Rule”. That statement has become more and more true to me. Now even more than ever. It is a very good example of the power that integrity can hold. Integrity is a big part of everyone’s character. It is controlled by the values that we choose to have in our lives. Values such as honesty and a strong will should be one of the biggest portions of your character. A man named Dwight Moody once said, “Character is what you are in the dark.” You cannot see your morals, character, or integrity. These are only shown as your values. Someone could only show their own values, which are very important to themselves and everyone else. The way you show your integrity, character, and morals or how they are effect you in either a negative or positive way. There are many causes to how your values are. So as you know, integrity is very important and is important to have it. John Wooden, a retired basketball coach for UCLA once told his team, “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” Back in the horse and carriage days everything you earned was based on your character and your integrity and it is still a big part of the society of today’s world. In the military life you have to have good integrity or you will be labeled as un trustworthy or unreliable, and that can get you into a lot of trouble early on in your military career. If you are a supervisor of any kind, and you are dishonest or don’t have good integrity then how can anyone trust you to complete a task or take on an assignment and expect you to complete it' Every sailor starts out his or her career with unblemished integrity. It's up to that individual sailor to either maintain or tarnish that integrity. Once your integrity has been compromised, needless to say it is very difficult to regain it in the eyes of your peers. Doing the right thing won't exactly get you promoted there on the spot but it will give you a clean conscience and demand the respect of your peers. It's obvious that down the road this is much more important. All in all, integrity and "Doing the right thing" go hand in hand. One of the most difficult tests of integrity is peer pressure. Everyone has been in a sisuation where "everyone" is doing something wrong, and the pressure to go along with it is great. One might think "If I don't join in, then I will lose respect among my peers, not gain it." This is not true in the professional environment. US Navy sailors are obligated to do what's right all the time, meaning not surrendering to peer pressure when it might involve illegal or immoral decisions. Bending the rules may not have immediate ramifications to the individual but down the road there could be grave consequences. The more we do the wrong thing, the harder it becomes to recognize right from wrong, but once we are always moral and ethical, doing the right thing is much easier and always the better choice. Integrity means that we do the right thing even when no one is looking. It is an important role in the values because if one does not have integrity they can not be trusted on in a time of need or when you are working side by side with them in every day work. What they say can not be taken on word alone. What they say and do will all ways be in question, whether it is a simple task as taking leave to go see your family at home or to the extreme of having to launch and recover a helicopter while having a fully loaded weapon at a base in Iraq or Afghanistan somewhere . Having integrity is very important and once you have broken your trust with some one, you will lose some of you integrity with them. Integrity is something that is intangible and can only be measured on a person to person base. Trust and Integrity are intertwined and are hard to tell apart sometimes and they affect one another. Having no integrity brings down the moral of a workcenter or even a division depending on the severity because there is no trust with that individual. You always have to have someone watching what they do and when they do it. Important items such as tools, weapons, first aid kits which are high dollar items may go missing. Even just simple things such as bandages or helicopter supplies will go missing. When it comes time to use that item and it is missing it may be a life or death situation that the person may have not intended to happen. Having self worth is part of integrity. If you have no self worth then no else has any in you as well, and you could be capable of doing anything or you may get blamed for something that you didn’t have anything to do with, but no one will believe you because of your lack of integrity.