“Integrity means avoiding any communication that is deceptive, full of guile, or beneath the dignity of people.” Stephen R Covey

Integrity s more than honesty. While honesty is speaking the truth, integrity means living it. So with that sentence and the above quote in mind I really do ‘weep’ when I listen to ‘celebrities’ demanding money off me while avoiding taxes; when I hear politicians say ‘the reality of the matter is’ before again merely spouting a party line exaggeration which is so blatantly ideological it bears no intellectual merit – FOX News does make me laugh, in that regard.

But the most telling interpretation of the quote for me is this: How often is the deception, guile of sub-dignified disrespect communicated directly to ourselves? How often do you lie to excuse misbehaviour? We learn to do that as children, and then take years ‘off’ conscience=focused living until one day in our middle age when we suddenly realise that we’ve been lying to ourselves as much as, if not more than we have lied to other people.

Speak the truth to yourself. You might not like what you hear, but if you act upon it you may never have to lie again.