There may well be all sorts of things that we don’t presently have in this life, of which, some of those very things we may strongly wish that we had in our possession. That said, the one thing that is fully ours, is the integrity that we so present to others as well as to our own being. So then, the pathway a given person will take or not take, to obtain something that is highly desirable is up to that individual – along with the salient fact as to whether or not that person will have to compromise themselves in order to get what they so highly desire. Those that are of integrity, know that the decisions that they ultimately make, reflect upon who and what they really are, in actuality; and will then, when tempted to impugn upon their own integrity and reputation, will not do so. Then there are all those others, whether consciously or not, wittingly or perhaps somewhat unwittingly, will, almost without hesitation, do what they feel has to be done to get what they insist that they have to have, by all means, so necessary.
We have relationships with all sorts of people, of which, some of those relationships are healthier than others. The types of relationships that are the healthiest are those in which both parties respect one another, validate one another, and care enough about one another, that they will consistently do the right thing when it comes to their interactions with one another. Then there are those other relationships, including those that are the most toxic, in which each party seems to be trying to “get over” on the other party, or we so find that one person is consistently being taken advantage of. These are examples of unhealthy relationships, which are either mutually bad for one another, or parasitic in structure. To the degree, that we can avoid these interactions, we should – to the degree that we willingly continue in these types of relationships, we should, if we are of good character, at least acknowledge to ourself that these types of relationships are seldom of any real merit.
In life, there are those social situations and work situations, in which we have to deal with what is in front of us as it is – which means that when we are engaged with those that are essentially corrupt in mind and action, that we need to do our level best to not degrade our own character, but rather, to do our upmost to maintain our integrity and core ethics. Then there are the friends that we have chosen or that have chosen us, in which, when we look upon our friendships, we need to periodically to ask ourselves the question as to whether or not this is a person of integrity; for those then that are our friends that have consistently displayed to us or to others, dishonesty and deceit, cannot in the scheme of things, be relied upon to ever be a true friend in our most deepest need -- which is why, we should seek to make friends with those of integrity and to also make sure that we ourselves are paragons of that same integrity.