Examples Of Integrity: Doing What’s Right
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Integrity is not lost, it is found within
A package arrived in our mailbox recently. My wife opened the package because it had our address on the package and she believed it could be one of the many sample products that she had signed up for. Inside the package was a man’s wallet containing $51 and many credit cards. Someone had sent the wallet to our address because it seems the man had lived at our address prior to us moving in.
We went through the wallet trying to get more information that might give us an idea how to return the wallet to it’s proper owner. We called directory assistance and searched Google for more information about the man but did not find any information that got us closer to finding him. Inside we found a business card that said the man had been a store manager at a major nation wide consumer electronics store. I once worked with the store manager of the Norman Oklahoma location of this nation wide consumer electronics store so I decided to drive to the store and see if my friend might know the owner of the wallet.
My friend the store manager was not working that day so I spoke with another manager and an employee who personally knew the owner of the wallet. Each of the store employees we spoke with seemed to be utterly amazed that we were trying to return the wallet. The employee who personally knew the owner of the wallet told us something great was going to happen to us for returning the wallet, that is not why we returned the wallet. The reason we returned the wallet is because it was the right thing to do.
Do the right thing
I truly believe integrity is not lost in America. Integrity is not found on the surface you have to dig deep within in to uncover it. I hear people say all the time, “There are no men of integrity left.” This is not true. Men and women of integrity are everywhere. Think about this, how many people pass your car, house, and your place of business each day and do not steal from it? The majority of people do not steal and make an extra effort each day to do what is right. We spend too much time focusing on people without integrity and we forget to celebrate and show gratitude to those those do what is right everyday.
What you focus your attention and action on you will receive. If you search the world for examples of men’s failings you will find all the examples you seek. The same is true for for those that seek examples of integrity. If you focus your attention on discovering people that do what is right you will find integrity everywhere you look. You might not have to look very far to find what you seek. Chances are you will only need to look inside yourself.
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Witch
Seems the 1st example of integrity was the unknown person, who went to the time, cost, and effort to mail the wallet to begin with!
March 15th, 2007 at 1:51 pmAnd add for a moment the trust that the wallet will return to its proper owner. from the story there must have been a substantial time lag.
Wild Bill
Yes the wallet was sent from a ski resort in Colorado. They are another example of integrity.
March 15th, 2007 at 1:58 pmBigMike
Its too bad you didn’t leave a link to this story for the guy that the wallet belongs to. I’m sure he would like to here about the awesome adventure that his wallet has been on in his absence. this might make a good screen play for an indie film, ‘the wallet vacation’
March 15th, 2007 at 9:11 pmWild Bill
Well I have a lot on my plate but I might be able to squeeze a screen play into it. haha
March 16th, 2007 at 2:11 amBig Dog
There are plenty of people with integrity but that does not make good news. The guy who cheats a company out of millions is a “better” story.
I always used to tell my young sergeants, find somebody doing something right. Too often time was spent going around picking out the things that someone did that were wrong. It is important to do so because those things need to be corrected but I always told them to make sure they found someone doing the right thing and to point it out.
If you do the screenplay I will play the wallet.
March 16th, 2007 at 5:01 amWild Bill
Alright it’s a deal Big Dog you can play the wallet. But do you really want to be in the butt pocket of the guy who lost the wallet, shoved into a tiny envelope and mailed across to states, sit on the top of my refrigerator for 3 days, and then be shipped to Arkansas on a 18 wheeler? :wassat:
March 16th, 2007 at 6:26 amBig Dog
Well, I played a mailbox in 24 and had people shoving envelopes in my face all day..
I also played little crumbled up pieces of bacon that people put on salad. It was a “bit” part….
March 16th, 2007 at 6:36 amWild Bill
Does it take a lot of integrity to play a mailbox or a BACON bit?
March 16th, 2007 at 8:12 amMom
It’s always nice to know that your kids got little pieces of you and your parents, and nice to know that they pass it on to thier children just by thier actions. LOVE YOU MOM
July 24th, 2007 at 9:12 amTman
I think that you tried to return the wallet so that you could get showered by praise and people telling you how wonderful you are. You could have just asked for the man without telling everyone that you were trying to return his wallet.
So you did it for selfish reasons.
If you were homeless you would have bought dope and booze with the money.
July 24th, 2007 at 11:03 amWild Bill
Tman the only reason you think that way is because it is what you would have done. Try to imagine everyone is not like you. You might have a hard time believing there are people in the world that do things because they are the right thing to do, however I can assure you that there are many people that practice integrity daily.
July 24th, 2007 at 11:20 amski
my version of integtiy is that of telling people whats wrong and having some help you out. not leaving you behind. like a friend of mine int the marine corps who his chainf of command new what was wrong and just harped on him, till he snapped with ptsd .and they new about it .told him to suck it the fuck up
December 16th, 2007 at 1:16 pmOrlando67
I’m in a situation where I kind of lost some of my integrity. But I’m earning it back very slowly and not giving up. Integrity is the most important thing but some people don’t always think that. I think we should learn from our mistakes and take back our integrity.
January 14th, 2008 at 7:49 pmHoe
Well ya noe we all cant be as perfect as WILD BILL i mean yeah it was the right thing to do but u wanted to post a blog on it so u actully did it but really inside u wanted 2 go on a HUGE shopping spree.
February 26th, 2008 at 6:28 pmam i not right?
gordy
hi,
June 19th, 2008 at 5:35 ami wanted to thank you for this excellent example of integrity. This example I am going to use in my Management interview tomorrow! Thank you, if I get the job because of this, I will surely pay it forward!
Wild Bill
Glad you enjoyed the post gordy, hope you got the job.
July 16th, 2008 at 11:00 am