You can WORK with integrity.
How? By doing your best, by not cutting corners. Give it your all.
You can also READ with integrity.
Integrity requires not giving up until you fully understand. That may mean reading over and over or looking things up, or asking for help. When you read with integrity you grab the book and wrestle it to the floor, insisting it share with you all its secrets. Think of reading as hand-to-hand combat. Being passive—letting your eyes roll over the print one time whether you comprehend it or not—is not integrity. Make the book surrender everything! Don’t let your eyes glaze over and keep going. Stop! Go back! Figure it out.
Finally:
You can WRITE with integrity.
How? By speaking directly. Integrity means being straightforward. Trim away the decorative language we use to minimize bad news. In some contexts (not all) you must be professional and direct. The “fluff” must go.
Writing with integrity also means NEVER using passive voice. Example: “the ball was thrown.” This construction lacks integrity because it fails to identify WHO threw the ball. Active voice would say, “Paul threw the ball.” Consider this Biblical example of passive voice:
Aaron replied, … “I said, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off.’ And they gave it to me. When I threw it into the fire, out came this calf!’” Exodus 32:24
Imagine Moses: “So you threw gold into the fire and a calf magically appeared?” It’s absurd. But Aaron could not face what he had done. He was ashamed and though he told the truth (sort of), his instinct to shade the truth or “spin” was so strong he blamed the fire for creating the golden calf. He sounds ridiculous. Passive voice usually does.
WORK with integrity by doing your best. READ with integrity by never giving up. WRITE with integrity by using active voice and not trying to hide failures.
God, give us the courage to act with integrity in all that we do.
ΑΩ
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