{watch over you}

This is more or less the text for my speech this morning:

Good morning.

This is a prepared speech.

My speech today will be about integrity. I’ll talk about what integrity is and why it’s important for us to have it.

My dictionary says that “integrity” is the “quality of having strong moral principles” as well as “the concept of basing of one's actions on an internally consistent framework of principles”.

So basically if I say that I have integrity, it means that I have strong moral principles and the more integrity that I have, the more do my actions align with my set of inner values.

You know how in mathematics we call whole numbers ‘integers’? Both ‘integer’ and ‘integrity’ come from the same root – they mean wholeness, and as applied to human beings, they mean wholeness of character.

Now, why would this be important? Why, when I have the golden opportunity to speak about anything on this fine morning, would I want to give this lecture?

I admit it’s because I’m idealistic. But it’s also because if we live without integrity, it means we live without sound principles. It means we live by something other than sound principles.

Now, that’s not good. Without principles to guide us, we lose our direction. When we lose our direction, we can no longer see the thin line between what is right and what is wrong; between what is good and what is bad. Our moral compass has gone haywire. We start to do bad things.

We’ve lost direction when we lie. We’ve lost direction when we cheat. And we know we’ve lost direction when we steal.

Ladies and Gentlemen, picture integrity as a suit of armour, which when you put it on, you become a person of character. With it on, you are able to deal ethically with the tough decisions of today, be prepared for the challenges of tomorrow.

Now my challenge to you is simple. It is by far a challenge to my own self, for my mouth is closest to my own ear: put this armour on and wear it – this armour of integrity. As with real armour, it is difficult to change into. But once you’ve got it on, it will protect you. Remember that.

Before I pass the microphone back, I’d like to share a quote from our still-relevant TV show host, Oprah Winfrey. She puts a lot of things into simple terms, and this quote basically sums up my speech:

She said that “Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.”

Thank you.