There are plenty of people that profess, perhaps sincerely, perhaps not, how they wish to be people of integrity, that are always thus honest, forthright, and fair. That certainly is a most worthy attribute for any of us to have, but as in many a virtue of high value, there is almost certainly going to be a cost for honoring such a valued commitment. After all, that which we most highly prize, is that which we will be true to, through thick and thin. This thus signifies that the true test of anyone’s character is not how they behave when everything is going their way, but rather how they act when they are truly put to the test, for that defines who and what they really are, in essence.
Those that are a part of this material world, of which that world seems to be one of competition, one-upmanship, and ambition, live then within a construct in which there will be those areas of temptation, quite beguiling, because they know that there are those tempting situations in which by compromising their integrity, they can thereby get ahead and successfully achieve tasks of real importance, to them, while often also finding some dubious piece of justification in their mind of why doing so, is okay. That then is the very first step of infringing upon one’s own integrity, by believing that “just this one time,” or via some other hollow excuse, which they believe will not then in the scheme of things, change the character of what they so profess to be.
For an absolute certainty, we will be tested, again and again, of which, the value of a real test, is of a test which is unequivocal in its knowing aspect, for a choice will have been made and duly noted, of which that choice, will be delineated into that which is right and that which is wrong. Those then that make the futile effort to believe that which is wrong, is somehow actually right or okay, have for a certainty, lost not only their integrity, but their good judgment, as well. After all, one cannot hope to regain their integrity if they are unable to recognize the difference between right and wrong, or of that which upholds integrity and that which does not.
There are plenty of people that when they get into trouble, are quick to point out all sorts of what appears to be justified reasoning for their behavior, of which, a close examination of such, almost always exposes such reasoning as being hopelessly flawed. All those that spend inordinate amounts of time, talking about how they are basically good people, most of the time, and further to the point, that there are plenty of other people, who are way worse than they are, are barking up the wrong tree. Each of us, must stand upon our own merits, of which, those that have decided to take inappropriate shortcuts in life, are going to have to eventually face the music, because in lacking the integrity to stand strong for that which is right, they have given in instead to that which is wrong, which must surely be rectified, somehow and somewhere at some point.