In January 1987 the U. S. Army disposal unit at Fort Bliss, Tex., sold several crates at an auction to scrap dealer Pedro Salas in Juarez, Mexico. When Mr. Salas got back to his scrap yard, he found a live rocket inside one crate. Checking further, he found another rocket, and another. Finally, he had discovered 23 live, high-explosive missiles designed to be fired from helicopters, capable of spraying thousands of fragments on detonation. How did such potentially dangerous munitions end up being sold inside "empty" crates. An investigation revealed that a young lieutenant had. signed a statement that he had inspected the crates and that they were empty. Because of that false statement; the lieutenant's career may be over, the U. S. government was embarrassed, and worst of all, human lives were endangered. --Dan Ames

   When you get what you want in your struggle for self
   And the world makes you king for a day,
   Just go to a mirror and look at yourself
   And see what that man has to say.
   For it isn't your father or mother or wife
   Whose judgment upon you must pass,
   The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
   Is the one staring back from the glass.
   Some people might think you're a straight-shootin' chum
   And call you a wonderful guy.
   But the man in the glass says you're only a bum
   If you can't look him straight in the eye.
   He's the fellow to please, never mind all the rest
   For he's with you clear to the end
   And you've passed your most dangerous test
   If the guy in the glass is your friend.
   You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
   And get pats on the back as you pass
   But your final reward will be heartache and tears
   If you've cheated the man in the glass.

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Poems

   Charles Spurgeon wrote, "A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you, and were helped by you, will remember you when forget-me-nots are withered. Carve your name on hearts, and not on marble."
   Integrity is "a better long-term investment than the best Certificate of Deposit known to man!"

   -- Jon Johnston, Courage: You Can Be Strong in the Face of Fear, p. 91.

See:  Prov 22:1; 2 Cor 3:3

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Integrity/571-573

   It is not what we eat
   but what we digest
   that makes us strong;
   not what we gain
   but what we save
   that make us rich;
   not what we read
   but what we remember
   that makes us learned;
   and not what we profess
   but what we practice
   that makes us Christians.

   -- Author unknown

See:  Matt 7:21; Matt 13:23

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Integrity/571-573

   Two preachers who didn't get along very well met on the street. One of them said, "I heard you speak the other night and recognized that sermon -- you preached it 14 years ago." Somewhat chagrined, the other shot back, "I heard you speak just 3 weeks ago, and I can't remember a word you said!"
   A lesson can be drawn from this story. Our lives should be like good sermons, conveying a message that leaves a lasting impression -- one that motivates others to godly living. When we've finished our course, what will folks recall about us?

See:  2 Cor 3:3; 1 Thess 1:8-9

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Integrity/571-573

   A little boy asked his mother, "Mommy, what is a lie?" His mother answered by saying, "Son, a lie is an abomination unto the Lord ... but a very present help in time of need!"
   Sad to say too often we teach a similar pattern to our children. Let's be careful to model clearly what we teach with our lips.

See:  Col 3:9

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Integrity/571-573
Parental Duties/Instruction of Children/1631
Motherhood/Cares of/4073

   In 1789 an uncertain George Washington is urged to seek the presidency by Governor Morris, a Pennsylvania delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Morris writes Washington: "No constitution is the same on paper and in life. The exercise of authority depends upon personal character. Your cool steady temper is indispensably necessary to give a firm and manly tone to the new government."

See:  Psa 143:10

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Integrity/571-573

   Recently, I saw a cartoon that demonstrated how people don't like to take responsibility. It was a Peanuts cartoon, and it showed Peppermint Patty talking to Charlie Brown. She said, "Guess what, Chuck. The first day of school, and I got sent to the principal's office. It was your fault, Chuck."
   He said, "My fault? How could it be my fault? Why do you say everything is my fault?"
   She said, "You're my friend, aren't you, Chuck? Your should have been a better influence on me."
   Somehow, we think that someone else is responsible.

See:  Gal 6:4-5

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Integrity/571-573

   What is going on in North America today? Is it the blind ambition of the "Baby Boomer" generation bent on upward mobility at any cost? Brux Austin, the editor of Texas Business, has written that the only sign we seem to be looking to for direction is the dollar sign: "We have no built-in beliefs, no ethical boundaries. Cheat on your taxes, just don't get caught. Cheat on your wife, just don't get AIDS." Our high-tech society, he writes, has given us everything -- "everything but a conscience."
   George Munzing, a minister, tells of a time he went to counsel a family about their son's drug use. The father was distraught as he described the impact of drugs upon his relationship with his son. He said, "The thing that bothers me most about his being into drugs is the fact that drugs have made him a liar." Moments later the phone rang and his wife went to answer. She came back into the room with the message that the call was for the father. He told her, "Tell him I am not at home." Munzing then commented that drugs had not made the boy a liar; the father had.

See:  Prov 16:13; Jer 5:1

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
False Profession/2989
Honesty/566

   I saw an interesting political cartoon the other day in the paper. John Tower was on the witness stand and was asked:
   "What would you do if we rejected your nomination on the grounds that you're a boozing womanizer?"
   His reply: "Move to Massachusetts and run for the U.S. Senate."
   While acceptable moral standards may vary from state to state, the standards of moral conduct have never changed with God.

See:  1 Kings 9:4; Prov 11:3

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Godliness/Exhortations Concerning/3081
Walk of Believers/3763-3765

   George M. Bowman says:
   You see, the word "sincere" comes from two Latin words meaning "without wax." Artificers of Middle Eastern countries fashioned highly expensive statuettes out of a very fine porcelain. It was of such fragile nature that extreme care had to be taken when firing the figurines to keep them from cracking.
   Dishonest dealers would accept the cracked figurines at a much lower price and then fill the cracks with wax before offering them for sale. But honest merchants would display their uncracked porcelain wares with signs that read, "sine cera," "without wax."

   -- George M. Bowman, (Chicago: Moody Press, How to Succeed With Your Money, 1974).

See:  Rom 12:9; Jam 3:17

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Honesty/566

   God, give us men! A time like this demands
   Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;
   Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
   Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
   Men who possess opinions and a will;
   Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
   Men who can stand before a demagogue
   And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!
   Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
   In public duty and in private thinking;
   For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,
   Their large professions and their little deeds,
   Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
   Wrong rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps.

   -- Josial Gilbert Holland, God, Give Us Men!, From The Best Loved Poems of the American People, selected by Hazel Felleman.

See:  Psa 1:1-2; Psa 25:21; Prov 16:8; Rom 12:17

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Service/Humble/3897
Honor/Great Men/1683

   Not only can the lack of integrity kill the individual involved, it can also cut down whole groups of innocent people as well.
   It was a chilly Tuesday morning, 28 January 1986, when Christa McAuliffe climbed aboard the Challenger space shuttle for her historic mission as the first citizen in space. She was a teacher. I only pray that we learned something about the consequences of getting an "F" in integrity. The weather was cold, but unbeknownst to the rest of the nation a group of engineers was fighting back the hot sweat of worried anticipation. Would the booster seals hold in this kind of weather? Was it safe to launch? Knowledgeable engineers and designers said, "No." Influential executives and planners said, "Yes."

   -- Integrity

See:  Prov 10:9

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Humility/1714-1721
Slothfulness/581

   When the space shuttle Challenger lifted into the sky and blew up seventy-three seconds into its flight, the world was shocked. Most of us have seen the videotape of that terrible moment many times. And we can recreate the picture in our minds of a deep blue sky marked with twisted trails of smoke and large chunks of metal plummeting toward the ocean. And we know, as we recall the grim specter of the explosion, that among the falling pieces were the bodies of some of America's finest men and women.
   Most of us also know that the investigations into the cause of the tragedy pointed out some serious shortfalls in human judgment and materials management. The New York Times put it frankly: the ultimate cause of the space shuttle disaster was pride. A group of top managers failed to listen carefully to the warnings of those down the line who were concerned about the operational reliability of certain parts of the booster rocket under conditions of abnormal stress. The people in charge were confident that they knew best and that they should not change the launch schedules. They were wrong.

   -- Gordon MacDonald, Rebuilding Your Broken World.

See:  Prov 11:3

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Pride/Warnings Against/1722

Title:  Father without Integrity

   Griffin O'Neal has accused his father, Ryan, of turning him onto cocaine at the age of 13.
   In an explosive interview, a bitter Griffin also charged that his womanizing dad encouraged him to follow in his footsteps when Griffin -- then just 11 -- began having sex.
   Now 23, and the veteran of 2 1/2 years on a drug rehabilitation program, Griffin recalled the day he was introduced to coke 10 years ago.
   "We were going to a movie and Dad said, 'Let's do a little of this to get us through. It's a long film.' He pulled out some coke, and that was that. I'd smoke hashish before that with him.
   There were always drugs in the house. I was an old hand at smoking pot when I was 6.
   Dad would rather I did drugs with him than with some person I didn't know and perhaps get myself killed," he says. "I think he was trying to prepare me for the atmosphere I was going to grow up in.
   Dad never gave me any fatherly advice about sex, because I was 11 going on 30 and I didn't need it. He just said, 'If it feels good, go ahead.'"
   Griffin claims that these days, he gets no advice at all from Ryan. In fact, he says, they haven't spoken for more than a year.
   "He has rejected me and considers me scum," say Griffin. "My own father gave me cocaine and yet he won't take the blame. If he'd given me a stronger fatherly message against drugs, who knows? My life could have been different."
   Griffin -- Ryan's son from his marriage to actress Joanna Moore -- lived with his mother after his parents divorced. But then her own drinking problems drove him to move in with his father.
   "It felt great for a while, but it comes down to the fact that it was all dangerous, all wrong. My father was older and should have known that. The only time he changed his attitude was when I started to do drugs on my own. He realized it was getting out of hand. But he had started it."
   He says his wild behavior was partly caused by sister Tatum's success. She had won an Oscar at 9 for her work in Paper Moon, which she co-starred with their father.
   "I felt like a puppy that wasn't petted," says Griffin.

   -- The Star

See:  Psa 127:4-5

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Integrity/571-573
Example/Evil/1176
Evil/Activity/31-33
Children/1643-1657
Fathers/Example

   In ancient China, the people desired security from the barbaric hordes to the north; so they built the great Chinese wall. It was so high they knew no one could climb over it and so thick that nothing could break it down. They settled back to enjoy their security. During the first hundred years of the wall's existence, China was invaded three times. Not once did the barbaric hordes break down the wall or climb over the top. Each time they bribed a gatekeeper and then marched right through the gates. The Chinese were so busy relying upon the walls of stone that they forgot to teach integrity to their children.

See:  Psa 25:21; Psa 101:2; Prov 2:7

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Teaching/Commanded/1782
Integrity/571-573
Children/1643-1657

   A boy visited his aunt, who reprimanded him for telling a fib. "Do you know," she warned, "what happens to little boys who tell fibs?"
   "No, what, Aunty?" he asked.
   "Well," she said, "there is a man up in the moon, a little green man with just one eye, who sweeps down in the middle of the night and flies away to the moon with little boys who tell lies and makes them pick up sticks all the rest of their lives. Now you won't tell lies any more, will you, for it's awfully, awfully naughty."

See:  Exo 20:16; Eph 6:4

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Integrity/571-573
Falsehood/3702-3704
Honesty/566

   March 11, 1942, was a dark, desperate day at Corregidor. The Pacific theater of war was threatening and bleak. One island after another had been buffeted into submission. The enemy was now marching into the Philippines as confident and methodical as the star band in the Rose Bowl parade. Surrender was inevitable. The brilliant and bold soldier, Douglas MacArthur, had only three words for his comrades as he stepped into the escape boat destined for Australia: I shall return.
   Upon arriving nine days later in the port of Adelaide, the sixty-two-year-old military statesman closed his remarks with this sentence: I came through and I shall return.
   A little over 2 1/2 years later -- October 20, 1944, to be exact -- he stood once again on Philippine soil after landing safely at Leyte Island. This is what he said: This is the voice of freedom, General MacArthur speaking. People of the Philippines: I have returned!
   MacArthur kept his word. His word was as good as his bond. Regardless of the odds against him, including the pressures and power of enemy strategy, he was bound and determined to make his promise good.

See:  James 1:12

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Faithfulness/Of God/1228
Integrity/571-573

   The saintly Horatius Bonar, reflecting on this subject, realized that the little things can either make or break the Christian. He wrote, "A holy life is made up of a multitude of small things. It is the little things of the hour and not the great things of the age that fill up a life like that of the apostles Paul or John, or David Brainard, or Henry Martyn. Little words, not eloquent speeches or sermons; little deeds, not miracles or battles, or one great heroic effort or martyrdom, make up the true Christian life. It's the little constant sunbeam, not the lightning, the waters of Siloam that go softly in their meek mission of refreshment, not 'the waters of the rivers great and many' rushing down in torrent, noise, and force, that are the true symbols of a holy life."

See:  1 Thes 4:10-12; 1 Tim 2:1-4; 1 Tim 4:7-8

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Faithfulness/1228-1229
Integrity/571-573

   And Alfred Whitney Griswold, who was president of Yale University, said: "Self-respect cannot be hunted. It cannot be purchased. It is never for sale. It cannot be fabricated out of public relations. It comes to us when we are alone, in quiet moments, in quiet places, when we suddenly realize that, knowing the good, we have done it; knowing the beautiful, we have served it; knowing the truth, we have spoken it."

See:  Eph 4:14-15

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Integrity/571-573

   Never trust a dentist...
 * who wears dentures.
 * who has hairy knuckles.
 * whose drill is driven by a system of pulleys connected to three mice on a treadmill.
 * who sends you a Christmas card and charges you for it.
 * who chews tobacco and spits the juice into the sink.
 * who uses the suction hose to empty your pockets.
 * who is also a barber.
 * who sprays his equipment with Lysol to sterilize it.
 * who uses lead for fillings.

   On the other hand, you can always trust a dentist...
 * who has never chewed gum.
 * who looks like Jack Nicholson.
 * who doesn't ask you questions when your mouth's full.
 * who puts you to sleep two weeks before your appointment.
 * who uses a laser instead of a drill.
 * who cancels your appointment to play tennis.
 * who has mellow rock piped into his office instead of elevator  music.
 * who doesn't strap you in the chair.

   -- From an article in Campus Life by Stephen Erickson.

See:  Psa 101:2-8; 1 Tim 3:1-7

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Integrity/571-573
Character/Studies/4289-4300

   When wealth is lost, nothing is lost;
   When health is lost, something is lost;
   When character is lost, all is lost.

   -- Anonymous, Quoted by Ted W. Engstrom in Integrity.

See:  1 Pet 3:15-16; James 3:13

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Testimony/3599-3605
Christlikeness/382
Integrity/571-573

   In his book, Integrity, Ted Engstrom tells a true story  about a high school basketball coach in Conyers, Georgia.
    Coach Cleveland Stroud led the Rockdale County High School Bulldogs to a very successful 21-5 season serval years ago.  The Bulldogs had a dramatic come-from-behind victory in the state championship game to top off a terrific year.  The town of Conyers was ecstatic!
   However, if one was to travel to Rockdale County High School and look in the school's trophy case outside of the gymnasium, the trophy case would be missing the state championship trophy.  The Georgia High School Athletic Association stripped the Bulldogs of their state championship title after Rockdale County High School officials said that a Bulldog player had been scholastically ineligible to play.  The player had only played 45 seconds in the first of the school's five postseason games.
   Coach Stroud said, "We didn't know it until a few weeks ago.  Some people have said we should have just kept quiet about it, that it was just 45 seconds and the player wasn't an impact player.  But you've got to do what's honest and right and what the rules say.  I told my team that people forget the scores of basketball games; they don't ever forget what you're made of."

- Tim Brown, Newletter Hopewell Baptist Church

Topic:  Integrity
Subtopic:
Index:  571-573

   Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel is no Playboy, at least not a member of the magazine's all-American college preseason football team.  Wuerffel, a devout Christian and son of an Air Force minister, declined an invitation to be name the magazine's National Scholar Athlete of the Year.  His decision cost him this weekend's expense-paid trip to a posh Phoenix resort, site of a photo shoot.  "It didn't take any thought at all," said Wuerffel, who as a junior last season finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting.  Florida spokesman John Humenik said the magazine, known for its sexual content and photos of nude women, accepted Wuerffel's decision.  "It would've been a lot of fun, and that's fine for some," Wuerffel said.  "I'm sure there's a good bit of the population out there that would think I'm silly for doing this.  But there's also a good bit of the population that would understand that's not the type of person I would want to portray myself as."

- USA Today, Friday, May 10, 1996
 "Wuerffel Rejects Playboy" p. 3C

Topic:  Integrity
Subtopic:
Index:  571-573

   Philip Dickerson, an aged Baptist minister, who died October 22, 1882, just before his death, said, "Seventy years ago the Lord took me into His service without a character.  he gave me a good character, and by His grace I have kept it."

- Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Topic:  Integrity
Subtopic:
Index:  571-573

   Some time ago, I heard about a fellow in Long Beach who went into a fried chicken place to get some chicken for himself and the young lady he was with.  She waited in the car while he went in to pick up the chicken.  Inadvertently, the manager of the store handed the guy the box in which he had placed the proceeds of the day instead of the box of chicken.   You see, he was going to make a deposit and had camouflaged it by putting the money in a fried chicken box.
   The fellow took his box, went back to the car, and the two of them drove away.  When they got to the park and opened the box, they discovered they had a box full of money.  Now that's a very vulnerable moment for the average individual.  He realized there must have been a mistake, so he got back in the car and drove back to the place and gave the money back to the manager.  Well, the manager was elated!  He was so pleased that he told the young man, "Stick around, I want to call the newspaper and have them put your picture in it.  You're the most honest guy in town."
   "Oh no, don't do that!" said the fellow.
   "Why not?"  asked the manager.
   "Well," he said, "you see, I'm married, and the woman I'm with is not my wife!"

- Charles R. Swindoll, Man to Man (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996) 49

Topic:  Integrity
Subtopic:
Index:  571-573

   Three lessons from Daniel 6:

1.  You will seldom get what you deserve from people, so don't expect it.
2.  You will always get what is best from God, so don't doubt it.
3.  Your ability to handle both is directly related to the consistency of your walk with the Lord.

- Charles R. Swindoll, Man to Man (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996) 54

Topic:  Integrity
Subtopic:
Index:  571-573

Reuben Gonzales was in the final match of a professional racquetball tournament. It was his first shot at a victory on the pro circuit, and he was playing the perennial champion. In the fourth and final game, at match point, Gonzales made a super "kill" shot into the front wall to win it all. The referee called it good. One of the two linesmen affirmed that the shot was in. But Gonzales, after a  moment's hesitation, turned around, shook his opponent's hand, and declared that his shot had hit the floor first. As a result, he lost the match. He walked off the court. Everybody was stunned.  Who could ever imagine it in any sport or endeavor? A player, with everything officially in his favor, with victory in his hand, disqualified himself at match point and lost!

When asked why he did it, Reuben said, "It was the only thing I could do to maintain my integrity." Reuben Gonzales realized that he could always win another match, but he could never regain his lost integrity..

submitted by Missionary J. Daniels

     In an issue of Moody Monthly, George Sweeting wrote about the desperate need for honesty in our culture.  He referred to Dr. Madison Sarratt, who taught mathematics at Vanderbilt University for many years.  Before giving a test, the professor would admonish his class something like this:  "Today I am giving two examinations - one in trigonometry and the other in honesty.  I hope you will pass them both.  If you must fail one, fail trigonometry.  There are many good people in the world who can't pass trig, but there are no good people in the world who cannot pass the examination of honesty."

Topic:  Integrity
Subtopic:
Index:  571-573

   One of the early celebrity preacher scandals involved sex and a clergyman who like today's group of miscreants -- also
enjoyed "the good life." Before and after the Civil War, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher was the most famous preacher in the land. His oratory drew crowds of thousands to his church in Brooklyn each week. Some called him "the greatest preacher since Saint Paul." He reportedly earned the princely (and unheard of) sum of $40,000 per year. Delighting in his treasures, Beecher enjoyed carrying with him uncut gems and openly endorsed commercial products ranging from soap to watches. Then in 1874 Beecher's friend and protege, Theodore Tilton, accused the beloved preacher of seducing his wife. The trial was such an attraction that admission tickets were sold to the public. And the outcome? The jury failed to reach a verdict but Beecher's influence and popularity continued undiminished for another thirteen years until his death.

Topic:  Integrity
Subtopic:
Index:  571-573

  What is going on in North America today? Is it the blind ambition of the "Baby Boomer" generation bent on upward mobility at any cost? Brux Austin, the editor of Texas Business, has written that the only sign we seem to be looking to for direction is the dollar sign: "We have no built-in beliefs, no ethical boundaries. Cheat on your taxes, just don't get caught. Cheat on your wife, just don't get AIDS." Our high-tech society, he writes, has given us everything -- "everything but a conscience."   George Munzing, a minister, tells of a time he went to counsel a family about their son's drug use. The father was distraught as he described the impact of drugs upon his relationship with his son. He said, "The thing that bothers me most about his being into drugs is the fact that drugs have made him a liar." Moments later the phone rang and his wife went to answer. She came back into the room with the message that the call was for the father. He told her, "Tell him I am not at home." Munzing then commented that drugs had not made the boy a liar; the father had.

Topic:  Integrity
Subtopic:
Index:  571-573

  God, give us men! A time like this demands
   Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;
   Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
   Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
   Men who possess opinions and a will;
   Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
   Men who can stand before a demagogue
   And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!
   Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
   In public duty and in private thinking;
   For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,
   Their large professions and their little deeds,
   Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
   Wrong rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps.

   -- Josial Gilbert Holland, God, Give Us Men!, From The Best Loved Poems of the American People, selected by Hazel Felleman.

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Poems

   The streams of life flow from our inner heart. And at the heart of one who ministers  must be character. Financier J. P. Morgan once commented that a man's best collateral is his character.

   -- Wiersbe & Wiersbe, Making Sense of the Ministry.

See:  Psa 51:10; Matt 23:25-28; Eph 3:16

   The words that house speaker, Jim Wright, quoted upon his resignation, really hit home;
   Horace Greeley had a quote that Harry Truman used to like: "Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wings, those who cheer today may curse tomorrow, only one thing endures -- character."

See:  Psa 1:1-2; Prov 20:7; 1 Sam 16:7

See:  Psa 11:7; Prov 10:9

See:  Prov 22:6

"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."

        —George Washington

"I would rather fail in a cause that someday will triumph than to win in a cause that I know someday will fail."

        —Woodrow Wilson

"Character is a victory, not a gift."

"A precious stone; though it falls into the mire, does not thereby lose its brilliance."

        —Malay Proverb

"The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do, if he knew he would never be found out."

        —Macaulay

"Two opposing candidates were debating on a street corner while a group of spectators listened. “There are hundreds of ways of making money,” challenged one, “but only one honest way.”

 “And what’s that?” jeered the other.

 “Aha!” exulted the first speaker. “I knew you wouldn’t know.”

        —Capper’s Weekly

The following two statements from Abraham Lincoln tell of his integrity leading a war-torn nation:

 “I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth. I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.”

 “I do the very best I know how; the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing it to the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me will not amount to anything. If the end brings me out all wrong, then a legion of angels swearing I was right will make no difference.”

 Famous men of the past have bequeathed us statements that have become mottoes. History declares that Henry Clay was about to introduce a certain bill in Congress when a friend said, “If you do, Clay, it will kill your chance for the presidency.”

 “But is the measure right?” Clay asked, and on being assured it was right said, “I would rather be right than be president.”

            —The Watchman Examiner

A Trophy for Integrity

submitted by David Zimmerman

Cleveland Stroud had coached the Blue Collar Bulldogs for 18 years before his basketball team made it to the state championship. Stroud recalls that "it was the perfect night" when they won. "A night you dream of." He was carried around the gym on the shoulders of his triumphant players and their proud parents. The local paper put his picture on the front page. But the excitement was short-lived.

Two months after the championship, during a routine grade check, Stroud discovered that one player was academically ineligible. The player had only played 45 seconds during the regional qualifying tournament. Stroud says, "I thought it was all ruined. I went through a phase where I was really depressed." He struggled with what to do next. Yet, his commitment to integrity led him to the right decision. "Winning is the most important thing for any coach," he says. "But your principles have to be higher than your goals." He reported the error to the league and the Bulldogs forfeited their trophy. When the team lamented their loss in the locker room, he told them, "You've got to do what is honest, what is right, and what the rules say. People forget the scores of basketball games, but they don't ever forget what you are made of."

In Touch Magazine, January 1999, page 16
 

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Honesty/566

 George M. Bowman says:

   You see, the word "sincere" comes from two Latin words meaning "without wax." Artificers of Middle Eastern countries fashioned highly expensive statuettes out of a very fine porcelain. It was of such fragile nature that extreme care had to be taken when firing the figurines to keep them from cracking.
   Dishonest dealers would accept the cracked figurines at a much lower price and then fill the cracks with wax before offering them for sale. But honest merchants would display their uncracked porcelain wares with signs that read, "sine cera," "without wax."

   -- George M. Bowman, (Chicago: Moody Press, How to Succeed With Your Money, 1974).

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