“Integrity is a keystone characteristic.” – Unknown
When I served a mission for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I was assigned to a town named Lincoln. The back road between there and Yuba City, a farmer had posted a blue sign with black lettering; on that sign were these words. I had been doing a lot of thinking about integrity and what it the word meant. I was not just thinking about how it applies to a person, like myself; I was pondering the depth and breadth of the meaning. I realized that Integrity holds a lot of other characteristics within its meaning: Honesty, Trustworthiness, and Loyalty to name a few. I felt impressed to add this to my personal list of quotes so that it would become something I work on and develop over time.
When I was a teenager, I saw a short that chronicled a personal experience of James E. Faust had when his father went away on business. James was told to take the plow and have it sharpened by the blacksmith. His father didn’t give him any money to pay for the work. James waited all week to take the plow and finally a day before his father returned he took the plow up. When he arrived at the blacksmiths, the smithy told the young man that he would have the plow ready the following day and his father could pay him when he had the money. James practically skipped the whole way home because of the reputation his father had earned over time. I hope that one day, I will have earned a sterling reputation that others will know they kind of man I am and value me for it.
I am not perfect and I still make mistakes … I can say that my word is my bond. When I make a promise, it is because I will keep it.
iron wil
