Integrity is a matter of choice

In life, there are a lot of things that we do not have control or the right to choose. We cant choose where we should be born or the type of parents we have or the siblings that we grow up with. But I believe that we do have a choice when it comes to building our own character and be a person of integrity. We do have a choice if we want to be an honest person or a dishonest one. We do have a choice if we want to be a corruptible person or a man of integrity. But sad to say I have seen too many people who have made these bad choices. I wont go and relate to you some of my experiences at the Bureau. I could probably be spending hours writing on some of the interesting characters that my officers and I had come to deal with.

Take playing golf for instance, the game that I have begun to love. When you hit a ball out of bound, the rule says you must incur a penalty and return to where you last hit the ball. When you finished playing that particular hole you must write down your true score. Golf is a game where you are your own judge with a whole host of ethics and rules that you need to follow. In fact it's been said that golf is a gentleman's game because to be a gentleman there is a list of etiquette you must follow - honesty and integrity are on top of this list. Writing down your own score would certainly be a moment that would test your own character. You would have a choice of returning a true score or you could submit a lowered score. But many a time where I see true characters being shown in the golf courses. I would see players where they would improve the lie of their ball when the rules say they shouldn't as you must play the ball as it lies or declare it unplayable or I would see one who would declare someone's else ball as his when he knew his ball was lost. I had met a few who despite hitting so many strokes on a particular hole and declared a rather impressive score when they knew the score was much worse than that. These kind of people would do anything to win, even to cheat. Were these people born to cheat? I am very sure not. To cheat or to be honest is a matter of choice. There is nothing wrong to be fiercely competitive and to possess that killer instinct but to be a cheat or to bend rules so that you can have an unfair advantage over another is something quite different.

Our everyday life is no different. Often we are called to make choices. So it is really up to us. We can choose to be honest or we can choose to be like the golfing cheat. But one thing is for sure, if a golfer is known to be a cheat he will carry that reputation with him because that is the character that he wanted to show to other fellow golfers. It is our character that people see of us when you make choices. They can see you as a man of integrity or they can see you as a big cheat. It really is up to you on how you build your character and how you want people to see of you.