The Value of Integrity

Integrity was a core value of my family growing up. 

I never saw it in writing.  It was never a formal announcement.  They didn’t give it lip-service and they certainly didn’t have it screen-printed on a t-shirt.

They just lived it out.  To the smallest detail.

I think I was 10 years old when I learned what it meant to live out integrity.  A life lesson I will never forget.

I went shopping with my mom and younger sister.  Walking out of the store with our things, I noticed something dangling from the back of my sisters long hair.  Snatching the mysterious item off her head, I found it to be a 13cent gift bow.  Must have latched on when we were horsing around in the gift aisle.  Reporting the stow-away bow to my mother, I expected her to dismissingly tell me to throw it away.  But she didn’t.  She stopped dead in her tracks, looked me square in the eyes and said,

You have to return it.  We didn’t pay for it so it doesn’t belong to us.  Take it back.

I thought I was dreaming.  Take it back??  Really?  It’s a 13cent bow.  Even at 10 years old I knew they’re likely not to care about the lost revenue on a 13cent bow.  But my mom wasn’t going to budge.  That was clear.

So I walked back into that store with their 13cent bow, went straight to the customer service desk and told them…

Excuse me, sir, but I need to return this bow.  You see, it stuck to my sisters hair while we were shopping and we walked out with it but we didn’t pay for it so we can’t keep it. 

The customer service man’s response to me was the same as my response to my mom.  Looking me over from head to toe trying to determine if I was being serious or if he was on an bad episode of Candid Camera  Finally he took the bow from me and said Thank You.

I entered that store confused as to why I would waste my time returning a 13cent bow. 

I exited that store understanding the value of integrity.  Adhering to truth in any circumstance… no matter how minor.

I don’t know if my mother even remembers that incident.  But those 5 minutes of my life were defining for me.  They served to shape my character.

As an individual, I learned that integrity is more valuable than convenience.

As a parent, I’ve learned the life-long impact of a right response.

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