True blue through and through

This week the things that inspired me most about my entrepreneurial class was a talk by Sherri Dew, titled, "True blue, through and through."  This talk was given originally as a BYUI devotional in March 2004.  Sherri Dew talks about integrity and how it is a virtue that will make you or break you.  I absolutely agree.  Integrity in all phases of life is so important.  We have to trust our husband or wife to make a successful marriage, they have to trust us.  In a business relationship a customer trusts the maker of the product, that it will work as advertised and be worth the investment.  Even in our communities, we trust that people will drive safely, keep the laws of the land and pay their taxes.  Without trust our world wouldn't function.  I particularly enjoyed the story she told of growing up in Kansas and driving the fully loaded grain truck.  She had one stop sign to stop at, but Kansas is very flat, and you can see in every direction quite a way (we lived in Wichita for five years, I can attest to her claims).  She decided to slow down, and eventually didn't even stop, until a policeman witnessed her running the stop sign and talked to her parents.

 "I learned three things that day: First, that with lightening speed, I went from complete observance to complete disregard of the law. Second, my demise started with a small crack in my integrity. The instant I talked myself into taking a small liberty, I was on a slippery slide into full-scale disobedience. And third, there is no such thing as slightly breaking a law–whether a law of the land or a law of God–because even a slight breach of integrity opens the door for Satan."  There is no such thing as slightly breaking a law.  She then talks about the commandments, I found this comical, but she makes her point. "On Mount Sinai the Lord didn’t say, “Thou shalt rarely covet”; or “Thou shalt not steal very often”; or “Thou shalt only commit adultery a time or two.” He said “Thou shalt not,” clearly delineating the line between integrity and infidelity, a line that when we cross we risk losing control of our thoughts, motives, and actions. Just as I did in the grain truck."

The other assignment I had this week that really impacted me was the Life Plan Personal Code of Conduct.  For this assignment we had to declare things we would do and things we would not do ethically.  There is something about drawing a line and not crossing it.  There is power in declaring who you are and what you will and will not do.  Maybe it is the visual person in me, or the fact that putting it on paper makes it feel like a contract or a declaration that I must live up to for the rest of my life.  The ethical standards I included are things I truly believe are important but writing it down seems to cement them a part of me.