Integrity

Integrity is a very important trait in any person who does not live in seclusion. Thus, it is important in any person. 

Integrity involves honesty to some extend. The Online free Merriam Webster dictionary defines integrity as a state of incorruptibility, soundness and completeness.

There are many types of integrity such as the professional integrity, personal integrity or artistic integrity (Cox, La Caze et al. 2008). Having high integrity in one sphere does not guarantee a person to have equally high integrity in another sphere. 

Countries can be lost if integrity is loss. Rampant loss of integrity can bring down the government. Companies can lose billions if integrity of their staffs are in dire. Trust can be jeopardised if one’s integrity is questionable.

In human relations, the relationship between parents and children needs integrity. Without which, will lead to distrust between both parties. Most often, the children are affected, having a sense of distrust of their parents.

In the practice of medicine, issuing illegal medical certs to certify a person not fit to work on a particular day even though it is otherwise healthy is an example of poor integrity. The patient who is not genuinely sick may request that the doctor issue him the MC as he/she was late for work, or even “feeling lazy” as some patients would describe. The issue becomes complex if the patient put reasons such as needing to settle the summonses or to take care of their immediate family members who was admitted to the hospital to be absent from work. The medical cert is for genuine cases when the sick person comes for treatment and needs rest in the doctor’s professional opinion. It does not serve as a certificate to permit one to be absent from work to care for other people’s affair.

In the higher institution of learning, integrity is equally important. Lecturers and teachers must possess a certain level of integrity in carrying out their duties. Things that need to remain as a secret from other lecturers and students should remained as it is. Favouring another student for trivial and unjust reasons not related to academic work by merit should be thrown out. Even if the student is older than the lecturer or shares similar background such as attending the same school or state or having politically influential parents, it should not oppress the teacher to be a good facilitator of knowledge to other students. Illegal flings with students as a result of random attraction should not blind the lecturer’s view on the potential of other students under their care too.

Integrity test on one’s ability to refrain from opening the mouth unnecessarily as well. Gossiping is the lowest form of poor integrity. This is similar to rumour mongering. Not everything that is told should be inform to others. Most of the time, it should remained as a knowledge that is kept to one self. We should only inform others if the outcome does not benefit most parties or in other case, harmful.

Because of that, it is important to practice integrity. One of the method is to think before saying. It is easier said than done and needs continuous practice. 

I once received an email about a wise man who would ask himself 3 questions before speaking. However, it is not in my list and I can’t seem to find it in google. If I may recall, which I may be wrong, some of the questions are, 1) Is it valuable 2) does it benefit me? 3) Does it benefit others? Any negative answer to any of the questions will strike out the need to speak or inform and listen to the information that one was about to share.

Integrity makes trustable friends and honours a person. Loss of integrity makes new friends, but may not always be a friend in need.

Cox, D., M. La Caze, et al. (2008). "Integrity." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Fall 2008 Edition. Retrieved 10 March, 2011, from http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/integrity/.