Integrity: Key for Success in Every Aspect of Life - Essay Sample

Introduction

Integrity is vital for the success of any field undertaken by human beings because it creates a sense of trust, self-reliance, and honesty; these qualities attract people and help in making stable relations. Moreover, integrity assists in achieving goals, since it makes it possible for one to live by the goals and values; he or she sets for themselves. Also, it is arguably true that integrity sets the foundation for ethics and morals, both socially, and professionally; therefore, a world without integrity would be one full of dishonesty, cheating, crime, low-quality goods and services, and unbearable working environment. For this reason, integrity is a virtue that is indispensable in human life, and the activities people participate in every day. The virtual is not innate; it can be learnt throughout the life of a person by continually practicing the trait, to improve the person's quality of life. According to Dr. Seltzer (2017), integrity refers not only to following set moral and ethical rules but also to a state of wholeness. This paper discusses the relevance of integrity, and how it betters one's life.

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For most people, social class determines the kind of people they can relate with; most preferably, people want to mingle with people of the same class, or a class higher than theirs. This interest in people within the same social class is the reason why, in most cases, the rich want to marry the rich, and those in a lower class tend to intermarry. More often than not, people within the same class share similar social and environmental experiences; therefore, they are likely to interact well and create lasting friendships. Social class has a direct effect on personal interests; with different levels of class, comes a difference of personal experience, and it is these experiences that in turn affect how people - especially adults - relate. For instance, a golf player is likely to interact with other golf players during his or her free time, just like people interested in the same sport. Also, the class is associated with influence; for instance, the rich, popular kids in schools are known to be influential to other students. Therefore, it is noticeably true that interactions, friendships, and relationships are profoundly affected by social class. However, integrity should not be determined by class, by a person's ability to adhere to moral and ethical rules.

In an article by Michaels (2001), the writer portrays the four protagonists as individuals from different social backgrounds, and with different values. Nachman is a brilliant mathematics student from Los Angeles, whose level of integrity is beyond good; on the other hand, Ali Massid is a rich Persian prince who is in America for studies but lacks interest in Metaphysics because the course did not turn out as he expected. Ali's girlfriend, Sweeny, is a football cheerleader who is described as blonde, and beautiful; although she is not an intellect like Nachman, she is fond of intelligent people. Norbert is Nachman's good friend and also Ali's classmate; however, he is nothing like Nachman since for him, academic integrity does not hold any importance, and he does not pay debts.

Due to Prince Ali's inability to write a metaphysics paper, Norbert plans a scheme to make Nachman write Ali's paper at a fee of thousand dollars - his intentions make him introduce Nachman to Ali without prior notice. Due to Ali's irresistibly good looks, need and politeness, Nachman agrees to write the paper without much negotiation and agrees to the fee Norbert had set. Nachman most of the duration he was allocated to finish the assignment reading Henri Bergson's book on Metaphysics, even though he is used to solving mathematical problems only; however, he gains deep interest in the knowledge within the book. Ali regularly checks on Nachman to know how he is progressing with the assignment; Ali goes to the point of inviting him to an elegant dinner that cost him about eleven or twelve thousand dollars, which did not look like much to the Persian Prince. Throughout the dinner, Ali speaks of her girlfriend Sweeny, who was impressed at hearing Nachman's intellectual skills with Philosophy; however, Nachman feels like Ali is suggesting he could be intelligent, but he could never have a girlfriend like Sweeny.

A week before the agreed deadline, Nachman still has not started writing the paper, but he insists that he already has the content needed in mind, and he would do the write-up before the deadline. However, as the deadline is nearing, Nachman has not finished the paper, and neither has he started writing it; he says that he mailed the paper to Ali, but Ali did not find the paper and neither do post office records confirm the reception of the paper. Later, Ali sends his girlfriend to inquire about the paper from Nachman, because he was already too angered by Nachman's failure to keep his end of the bargain. Sweeny offers to take the information on the paper on tape-recorder, and later type it to a document Ali needed; Nachman seizes the opportunity and tries to impress Sweeny with his expertise with words. Within no time, Nachman decides that Sweeny should put the recorder away so she can learn by "experiencing rather than listening," but she notices his motive and walks away before Nachman makes further advances. A year after this occurrence, Ali still did not get his paper, but Norbert and Nachman shared the $1,000 between themselves as "business partners."

Although the article began with Nachman being the honest man who would never dream of stealing from anyone, Norbert being a perpetrator of academic dishonesty, and Ali is the kind but an academically dishonest person, Ali ends up as the victim of dishonesty. Couldn't Nachman protect his integrity by saying no to Ali's offer? Nachman decided to compromise his integrity only once: not for money or trip, but because he believes Ali is a nice guy. For the second time, Nachman breaks his integrity when he fails to finish writing the paper within the agreed time, despite Ali's expenditure on him in an expensive dinner. On the third occasion, Nachman breaks his integrity when he tries to seduce Ali's girlfriend, despite his knowledge of her romantic relationship with Ali. For Nachman, he did not go against his morals out of necessity, but to protect his ego by proving the statements he perceived from Ali wrong. Also, he could have gone against his values for the money, just like his friend Norbert.

People should not give up on their integrity even in tough times that would cost them their employment (Caprino). Although one could breach integrity due to good reasons, he or she should ensure that his actions do not hurt other people, and neither do they ruin their reputation. For instance, if Nochman rejected the offer, Ali could get the deal to someone else, and it would be possible to trust him.

Works Cited

Caprino, Kathy. "What You Should Never Compromise On While Building Your Career." Forbes, 14 Feb. 2016, www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2012/09/05/what-you-should-never-compromise-on-while-building-your-career/#6962dd115298.

Michaels, Leonard. "Nachman From Los Angeles." The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2001, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/11/12/nachman-from-los-angeles.

Seltzer, Leo F. "How and Why You Compromise Your Integrity" 19 Jul. 2017, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evolution-the-self/201707/how-and-why-you-compromise-your-integrity.