THE IMPORTANCE OF INTEGRITY

 

The story goes thus…. A sculptor was asked to create a statue. He went about with his work. The day of inaugurating the statue soon arrived. But the sculptor was still working on the hair, making some corrections. The organizers were not ready to wait. They told the sculptor that nobody would notice it as the statue was very tall. But the work conscious sculptor said, “Even if nobody sees it, I know that the strand of hair is not in its place and I will not be happy.”

 “ Integrity is the choice between what is right and what is convenient.”

 How many of us live an uncompromising life when it comes to the quality of our work? We sometimes just focus on completing our work. How good our work is, we don’t pause to reflect. Should we not sign off anything that we do with our personality? Some of you may be saying, “Who cares! This is how everybody works.”  Leave out others, you should be able to appreciate your work. Are you proud of yourself and your values?  Then you wouldn’t be requiring anyone to monitor you. That’s the trust you build. And it is the beginning of a life of integrity.

 “What you do when nobody is watching you is your integrity.”

 When the school announces an honesty test, where there will be no invigilator, you have the choice to live up to the trust or betray the trust of the teachers. What is your choice? When the school has banned students from bringing mobile phones to school, do you sneak it in or follow the rules? When the school wants to create you as a law-abiding citizen and does not permit you to come in a powered two-wheeler, do you slyly park it a few streets away from the school so that you are not caught or avoid using it? You have the freedom to make a choice. A student who is trying to be right only in the presence of a teacher is actually cheating himself. He does not realize that none of the above acts affect the school or the teacher in any way, but what you become in the process will have a bearing on your adult life. What you repeatedly do becomes your habit, it will either create you or destroy you in the process.

 “Real integrity is doing the right thing knowing that nobody is going to know if you did it or not.”

 If I don’t exercise regularly, I will suffer. If I eat tongue conscious food I will lose my health. I need to be sincere to my body. Every morning, when I wake up at 4.30am and meditate for an hour, for the welfare of thousands of students in the school, I know that none of them will ever know that I do this for a larger Cause, and not for my personal benefit. Yet I do it without absenteeism. There is immense joy in doing something sincerely without trying to impress the world.

 Take up one aspect in which you will be true to yourself. Work on it. Be character oriented and not reputation oriented. Who you are is more important than what the world thinks of you. Never ask yourself, “Will I be caught or not.” Ask yourself, “Am I right or not.” Live to look up to yourself.

#Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting