Integrity Above Reputation
I struggled a lot with my reputation and the reputation of my family growing up… My family, particularly my parents, were well-respected in the church and overseas as missionaries. Everyone liked my family, and people would always comment on how “well-behaved” my brothers and sisters were. I guess you could say we had the “perfect” family. I struggled a lot with that. I thought that I had to live up to this reputation that my family supposedly had… no one was allowed to see my faults, my struggles, my downfalls. What would that do for the reputation of my family?
Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of - for credit is like fire; when once you have kindled it you may easily preserve it, but if you once extinguish it, you will find it an arduous task to rekindle it again. The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.
Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC)
As I was struggling through this problem of focusing more on my reputation than on my own integrity, my counselor reminded me that integrity comes before reputation. Reputation follows one’s integrity… it is what other people think of you. Your integrity is what you determine about yourself. Only you can uphold your integrity… and from there, others decide your reputation. So with that said…
Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.
Oprah Winfrey (1954 - )
Titus 2:6-8
Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
Published on 7 Apr 2008 at 8:46 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under Quotes/Readings, Thoughts.
“Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls.
Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing;
‘Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.”
-William Shakespeare
Othello
I really like that top picture, looking through the window panes (including the cracked one) at Carter Hall.
Jim N. on 26 Apr 2008 at 9:38 pm.