An essay on Integrity- A cardinal virtue in student life
Posted Date: 14 Aug 2021 |Updated: 14-Aug-2021 |Category: Essays|Author: Dr Deepali Gangwar|Member Level: Gold|Points: 50|
Integrity is required to make life better forever. A person without integrity can do some wrong acts which can change his life and damage honesty and relationships. The essay explains the meaning of integrity, its importance, how to keep it, and how is it helpful.
Introduction
We daily see and hear about lots of news and acts which are unethical. There are lots of corruption and illegal activities. All these are because of a lack of integrity or reducing integrity. Integrity is an important virtue that can make life better. It is a quality that shows who you are?
What is the meaning of integrity?
The meaning of integrity is the quality of being truthful and having strong moral beliefs. You can simply define integrity as an integrated person who follows moral beliefs and does the right thing in all situations. A person is of great integrity who understands, accepts and practices his principles. He/she is also dedicated to living according to his/her principles and deepest values. The person who has integrity also relies on truthfulness, fairness, consistency, honesty, and decency. Integrity also develops the ability to differentiate between right and wrong things. A person with integrity will do the right things even if it is difficult to do, and if he has integrity, he has the same qualities inside as he is outside.
Why is integrity important for students?
People only believe in an honest and truthful person who keeps his promises in every aspect of life. In schools, students and teachers work under integrity. Teachers share their knowledge and skills with the students and, they develop new ideas, knowledge and other creative works and acknowledge the works of others. Students respect their teachers. They also work in integrity with their friends.
How to keep integrity?
Integrity can be maintained in several ways as:
Do right, even if nobody is looking at you. According to Oprah Winfrey, "Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it" We should always do the right thing, and it must not be to show off others. e.g., In a class, a student found a beautiful pencil. He can take and keep it with him. But a student with integrity will give it to the teacher. Sometimes while shopping, some additional products comes in your cart for which you did not pay. You must go back and pay for that products.
Do not do wrong even if all are doing so. People want to be liked and accepted. So, usually, they also do the things the others are doing. However, sometimes the act goes against their choice or decision. Following the herd may give the momentary happiness but cannot satisfy you because you have followed the crowd only, and you had not done as you wanted. So, try not to follow the herd but do the things as you like.
Keep your commitments even if it requires extra effort. It should be like this if you have made any promise to anyone. Try to keep it. Breaking a promise will also hurt that person, and he/she will not trust you.
Tell the truth, even if it hurts anyone. Sometimes people do not tell the truth because they think it will hurt others. Hence, they make false praise. But lies do not hide for long and are revealed one day. Then the situation becomes worse. So, always tell the truth, even if it hurts anyone.
Do not accept anyone's wrong advice to cheat anyone. We take and advise our relatives, friends and colleagues. But sometimes some people give wrong advice which is deceptive and may harm or cheat someone. We should try to avoid this kind of wrong advice.
Do not say bad things about anyone. A person with integrity never says bad words to anyone. As bad words will hurt others and may create a distance.
How is integrity helpful?
It enhances Internal Strength. Internal strength is a combination of determination, self-discipline, and firmness. Integrity strengthens a person's inner capabilities, allowing them to do the right thing. It instils self-assurance, courage, and the ability to overcome challenges and hurdles.
It gives a sense of fulfilment. It is an emotion of contented feeling which comes when a person is having integrity. Whenever you help someone who is in need and when you saw a smile on his/her face. You can feel a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction. When you do what you love or when you get something that you want gives a sense of fulfilment. When you follow your rules also gives a sense of fulfilment.
Integrity gives happiness. Integrity gives several moments in life which are full of happiness. Satisfaction comes when we are pleased with our life. When we meet our relatives or closest friends, we enjoy happy moments. Hence, it provides many opportunities to make yourself happy.
Integrity develop self-esteem. A person with integrity feels secure and confident. Without integrity, you are not honest about your beliefs and ideals, and there is nothing that can enhance your self-esteem. Confidence comes from knowing who you are and reflecting on it for the benefit of others.
Develops teamwork. When people have integrity, they have trust in others and work as a team. It is also important that one should not disclose the secret of anyone to others.
Conclusion
Nobody can live life peacefully if he is not honest, and no one has trust in him. Without having integrity, nobody can develop a healthy relationship with others. Integrity is very important and required for the smooth functioning of all activities in life. Without it, you cannot differentiate between right and wrong, and everything will go in vain. We must follow integrity in our life so that life becomes more peaceful and joyful.
It is very easy to make principles because for this it is only to prepare a list which will tell what should be the principles of living your life, but when it comes about to implementation of those principles then it is not easy for every person, but persons with the quality of integrity will surely prove himself on his principles. Integrity is important in every phase of human life including student life, professional life, personal life, and even spiritual life. The tips given by the author to maintain integrity are quite useful. Integrity gives you support like a lamp of light in every path of life. Mostly the word integrity is considered with the unit and when in fact a person adopts integrity then he also increases his emotional unity.
A person with core values can only maintain integrity. Accepting the truth, valuing the laws of the land and being honest are the qualities of a man with integrity. But these days we find very rarely those who have integrity in their lives. If we get a little benefit we will never hesitate to tell lies. If we are personally getting benefitted, we never mind even a deserving candidate loses. People should consider the issue as an issue only. We should not think about the persons involved. We all know the spot valuation of common examination papers. Here the examiner will never know the name of the candidate. He will see the answers and give marks based on the correctness of the answers given. But a teacher who respects integrity will value the paper of all the students in the same way even though he knows the name of the candidate.
Integrity is one trait in our lives which gives us immense respect and reputation if we can maintain it in our dealings, behaviour, and lives. It is a sign of our reliability and people will judge us from the level of integrity that we have in our character. Taking things casually and ignoring the importance of many activities in our lives is one of the major cause of lacking in integrity value in many persons. I remember one incident when I had to go to Ahmedabad for a few days and one of my friends offered his flat to me because they were going out to their hometown for 15-20 days and told me that I can collect the keys from the neighbour and use the main room and kitchen if required. He gave that offer himself so I was very happy and went to Ahmedabad and when I reached at that address then the neighbour told me that the person had neither given the keys nor had told anything in that regard. So I went to some guest house and had my own arrangement. Later when I met him I asked him why he had not given the keys. He told that he just forgot that completely and now today when I am telling him then he is remembering the incident. This type of incidents create doubt about the integrity of a person. We lose confidence in his reliability in the future also. So integrity requires commitment to do what we have promised or assured to someone.
The author has mentioned that integrity is important in the life of students. I would like to add that integrity is to be taught right from early childhood. The mind of the child is like a clean slate. Whatever is taught or fed gets absorbed easily. It can be a skill or it can be certain values which become belief systems later on in life. Childhood is the phase in one's life when deep conditioning of the mind takes place. Thus, it is important to teach children the meaning and value of integrity. It can only be taught if parents, guardians or teachers themselves practice integrity in their lives. A child may look innocent but deeply observes everything that is going on around him. He will notice the duality among elders when they teach something to him but do something opposite when they go into the outer world. For example, they may teach a child to always speak the truth but in the next moment may call up their office and take a sick leave when they are not sick. This kind of duality is not going to have a positive impact on the mind of a child and he is never going to become a truthful person.
If we start believing that we and our values are inseparable, it becomes easier for us to follow our values. In that case, we don't always have to think about whether we have to be real or cheat a little. When we start believing that our value and we are inseparable, we will never do wrong in any situation. We will always be honest and truthful and do the right thing. It does not matter who is looking and who is not. A person with high integrity cannot do anything wrong because he has to face himself and answer to himself.
It is very easy to make principles because for this it is only to prepare a list which will tell what should be the principles of living your life, but when it comes about to implementation of those principles then it is not easy for every person, but persons with the quality of integrity will surely prove himself on his principles. Integrity is important in every phase of human life including student life, professional life, personal life, and even spiritual life. The tips given by the author to maintain integrity are quite useful. Integrity gives you support like a lamp of light in every path of life. Mostly the word integrity is considered with the unit and when in fact a person adopts integrity then he also increases his emotional unity.