Applied Ethics
What Does it Mean to Have Integrity
The dictionary describes integrity as being unimpaired, unadulterated, or genuine state; entire correspondence with an original condition; purity. But in layman terms, integrity means to be who you are regardless if someone is watching you or not. Being true to one’s self, values, beliefs and morals is vital on the religious viewpoint. Integrity is how we decide to live our life. In our lifetime we will be faced with decisions only we can make ourselves. Only we can decide how we live our lives, and the decision we make defines us as. Integrity is doing the right thing opposed to doing the wrong thing. Integrity builds character and helps us develop values. This is an important quality to have because most people are looking for a trust-worthy leader. Integrity starts in the home. I grew up with great parents who taught me morals and values. They taught me to love all mankind regardless of their social issue. These lessons they taught me involved trust, respect, and integrity. They told me these characteristics were good to have, when I was young I didn’t understand why they was telling me this, but now that I am a man I understand perfectly. I believe all children should be exposed to integrity at an early age to develop personal growth. I also believe integrity should be taught in the schools, because some children don’t have parents to teach them right from wrong. I bring up school because this is where your integrity is tested at the earliest. Promoting early development of ethical values in children educates a child to live an honorable life. Children at school try to test you with different kinds of negative peer pressures which sometimes pull us to forget how we was raised and our values, beliefs and morals are soon gone. It is our duty to be strong and courageous to do what is right. The decline of moral teaching is evident in all the crimes committed by the youth, because