As a graduate of English from the prestigious University of Lagos, the onus lies on me to churn out essays devoid of blunders. However, despite the fact that I am aware that I am not a bad writer, this essay is made possible by the ‘German courage’ those shots gave me.
Enough of the cruise and unnecessary excuse to cover my expected writing rustiness. I am genuinely faced with the pertinent dilemma of what to write about. After moments of biting my fingernails and downing sachets of ‘pure water’, I arrived at writing on the issue of INTEGRITY.
dictionary.cambridge.org defines ‘Integrity as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change’. In a bid to make this essay informal, I will steer off dictionary meanings, thus, expatiate on this subject in my own words and as colloquial as possible. To me, integrity is having a track record of loyalty and trust entrenched in a person; it is possessing the quality of being one of the first persons people think of when they need someone to be part of a pivotal part of their life. One of the best investments one can make is investing in people, this also means one of the best things that can happen to a person is having people invest in him. However, for people to invest in you, the value proposition of integrity has to be evident.
It is expedient I accept the fact that we do not live in a Utopian world, as such living a life of integrity can be a herculean task. Therefore, it is important that we know integrity is not synonymous with being a saint. It is simply being known to be a conformer to a certain school of thought and known to be a ‘person of your word’. In simpler terms, the basis of integrity is being known to being someone who would ensure he sticks to his words and do the needful.
This essay is not an attempt to portray me as a man of integrity, rather it is the acceptance of my frailty yet continual yearn to stand out as a man who strives to be loyal, trustworthy, and ever-present to the people that matter in my life.
