Definition Essay On Integrity

In today’s society to find someone with true integrity; is rare. When asked to define what it means to have integrity most would define it as being honest. Certainly to have integrity one has to be considered honest, but it means so much more than that. Integrity is having strong moral values and principles in everyday life that no matter the situation a person is faced with they will always choose what is right. My Dad is a wonderful example of what integrity truly is; his morals and values are unwavering. Thankfully, at an early age he began teaching my sister and I what it meant for a person to have integrity. He would tell us “to have integrity, a person will always do what is right even when no one is looking.” In addition, he would say “having integrity will not always be easy to do; there will be …show more content…
I was a senior in high school; sitting in history class one day when out of nowhere our teacher announced he had to leave due to a family emergency. It was a few days before exams; we had been reviewing everything we needed to know for our exams when he announced he was leaving. Incidentally, in his mad rush to leave, he left the actual exam laying out on his desk. A guy that was notorious for causing problems in school happened to see the exam, and announced to the class what he had found. The class erupted into excitement. The exam was passed around for everyone to look at and copy down the answers. The exam came to me; I held it in my hand and contemplated doing as the rest of my classmates were doing. Suddenly, it was as if my dad were standing over me saying “having integrity will not always be easy to do; there will be times in your life I’m sure that you will be faced with situations that will test your integrity, but it’s up to YOU to choose what to do.” After thinking about my Dad, and what he had said; it was as if that paper was hot as a fire; I quickly passed it on to a classmate that was anxiously waiting to copy