Integrity:  The Bedrock of Virtue

My talk today is entitled, “Integrity:  The Bedrock of Virtue.”  I pray the Holy Ghost will be with us as I talk to you about this sacred principle.  I acknowledge my indebtedness to many church leaders for stories and material on which I have based this talk.

I would like to begin my talk today by reciting a poem that speaks to me of integrity.  The poem is titled “The Oak Tree” by Johnny Ray Ryder Jr.

A mighty wind blew night and day.
It stole the oak tree’s leaves away,
Then snapped its boughs and pulled its bark
Until the oak was tired and stark.
But still the oak tree held its ground
While other trees fell all around.
The weary wind gave up and spoke,
“How can you still be standing, Oak?”
The oak tree said, “I know that you
Can break each branch of mine in two,
Carry every leaf away,
Shake my limbs, and make me sway.
But I have roots stretched in the earth,
Growing stronger since my birth.
You’ll never touch them, for you see,
They are the deepest part of me.
Until today, I wasn’t sure
Of just how much I could endure.
But now I’ve found, with thanks to you,
I’m stronger than I ever knew.”

In D&C 124:15 we read, “Verily I say unto you, blessed is my servant Hyrum Smith; for I, the Lord, love him because of the integrity of his heart, and because he loveth that which is right before me.”

There are not many places in the scriptures where the Lord says why he loves people.  I suppose we take it for granted that because we are His children He loves us and I believe that.  I believe that the Lord loves all of His children no matter what they have done, but I also believe that he is especially pleased with those who have integrity and love to do right.

I love the word integrity.  It is a word that speaks to my soul.  President Kimball defines integrity as the willingness and ability to live by our beliefs and commitments.  He further states, “Integrity is a state or quality of being complete, undivided, or unbroken. It is wholeness and unimpaired. It is purity and moral soundness. It is unadulterated genuineness and deep sincerity. It is courage, a human virtue of incalculable value. It is honesty, uprightness, and righteousness. Take these away and there is left but an empty shell.”

He continues, “Integrity is not to ask, ‘What will others think of me…? But ‘What will I think of myself if I do this or fail to do that?  … Would the Master approve?”

James E. Faust, “Integrity, the Mother of Many Virtues,” Ensign, May 1982, 47

Ralph Waldo Emerson stated: “Every man takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat him. But a day comes when he begins to care that he do[es] not cheat his neighbor. Then all goes well. He has changed his market-cart into a chariot of the sun.” (Conduct of Life, in The Complete Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, New York: William H. Wise and Co., 1929, p. 585.)

Elder James E. Faust, formerly in the first presidency, states “Complete and constant integrity is a great law of human conduct. There need to be some absolutes in life. There are some things that should not ever be done, some lines that should never be crossed, vows that should never be broken, words that should never be spoken, and thoughts that should never be entertained.”

I want to share some stories of my heroes—men, women, and children who exhibited great integrity.  I start with a man named Eric Liddle who was memorialized in the 1981 film, “Chariots of Fire”.  Eric was born in 1902 in north China to missionaries not of our faith.  He became an outstanding athlete who was described as “entirely without vanity.”  He was selected to be a member of the team to represent Britain in the 1924 Olympics.  His specialty was the 100 meter race in which he set a British record of 9.7 seconds that would not be broken for 35 years.

Unfortunately, in the Olympics, the heats for the 100 meter race were run on Sunday.  Rather than run in the heat for the event for which he had trained so long and hard and for the race for which he was best qualified, Eric Liddle, a man of great religious faith, forfeited qualifying for the 100 meter race because would not run on Sunday.

I do not know what conversations and pressures were put on Eric to break his commitment of Sabbath day observance.  I can imagine that many in his country could not understand why he would not make an exception just once for his King and his country.  I thank God, however, for the courage of this young man to stand by his principles.  To me, this is integrity.

Eric Liddle ended up winning a gold medal in a race that was not his strength, the 400 meter, but more importantly he maintained his integrity.  He went back to serve a mission in China, and when captured in a conflict and offered his freedom in a prisoner exchange, chose to let a pregnant woman be exchanged while he remained and died in a prison camp.  Had he not maintained his integrity, he would have been largely forgotten in the pages of history.

I now take you to another time and place.  The year is 1857.  A young missionary of 19 is just returning from his mission to Hawaii.  In California, he joins a wagon train headed for Utah.  I now quote from Charles Nibley:

“In southern California, just after the little train of wagons had traveled only a short distance and made their camp, several anti-‘Mormon’ toughs rode into the camp on horseback, cursing and swearing and threatening what they would do to the ‘Mormons.’ [This young man] was a little distance from the camp gathering wood for the fire, but he saw that the few members of his own party had cautiously gone into the brush down the creek, out of sight. When he saw that, … the thought came into his mind, ‘Shall I run from these fellows? Why should I fear them?’ With that he marched up with his arm full of wood to the campfire where one of the ruffians, still with his pistol in his hand, shouting and cursing about the ‘Mormons,’ in a loud voice said to [him]

“ ‘Are you a “Mormon”?’

“And the answer came straight, ‘Yes, siree; dyed in the wool; true blue, through and through.’

“At that the ruffian grasped him by the hand and said:

“ ‘Well, you are the ——— ——— pleasantest man I ever met! Shake, young fellow, I am glad to see a man that stands up for his convictions.’ ”1  The young man I speak of was Joseph F. Smith who later became a president of the church.

Men and women of all walks of life appreciate a man or woman, a boy or girl who will stand up for his or her convictions.  The world pleads; no it begs for those who have the courage to act according to their beliefs.

The scriptures are full of examples of those who, in the words of Job, said with their lives and their deeds, “till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.”  Job 27:5.

Some of the most remarkable examples of integrity recorded in the scriptures are of those who are young.  When the Jews were taken captive into Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzer ordered that some of the most promising of the Jews children be taught and given meat and wine for three years to prepare them to meet the king.  Young Daniel, who was among the group, determined that he would not defile himself by drinking the king’s wine or eating the king’s meat.  Melzar, the person in charge of nourishing the children, was afraid the King would punish him if Daniel looked in any way malnourished.  Daniel proposed, “prove us ten days” on food that our God has told us is good.  Then compare how we look with how the rest look.  Melzar agreed and through Daniel’s faith the Lord blessed him.

When the time came for him to stand before the king, the king found none like Daniel and his friends.  In all matters of wisdom and understanding, the king found them 10 times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in his kingdom.

This is the same Daniel who was later was made ruler over the princes of king Darius.  The princes were jealous of Daniel’s position and wanted him to fall.  They looked in vain for errors in how he governed the kingdom.  Finally, they determined that the only way they could trap him was “concerning the law of his God.”  Daniel 6:5.  So they devised a plan in which they would get the king to sign into law that no man could pray to or petition God for 30 days.  Those breaking the law would be cast into a lion’s den.

Well, Daniel was one who was known to pray.  He had a habit of going 3 times a day to his house to pray.  When he knew that the law had been signed, “he went into his house…and prayed” leaving the windows open as he had previously done.  The wicked princess watched him and finally found something they could accuse him of.  They told the king who tried to deliver Daniel, but could not.  According to the law, which the king has signed and could not change, Daniel was cast into the lion’s den.

The king worried and fasted through the night.  Early in the morning he went to see if Daniel was still alive. After calling to Daniel, Daniel replied, “O king, live for ever.  My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouth, that they have not hurt me.”  Daniel 6:22

Such was the integrity of Daniel.  He knew what was right, and he had the courage to do it in the face of grave consequences.  As a result, he was given great wisdom and knowledge, given great earthly prominence, and delivered from certain death.

These stories of integrity are not confined to the bible or the ancient past.  They are not stories of things that no longer occur.  I take you now to a real life experience of a boy who was in middle school when I was a child.  The account is told by his teacher.  The teacher states:

“Today was test day in climbing the rope. We climb from a standing start to a point 15 feet high. [My job is] to train and teach the boys to negotiate this distance in as few seconds as possible.

“The school record for the event is 2.1 seconds. It has stood for three years. Today this record was broken. …

“For three years Bobby Polacio, a 14 1/2-year-old ninth-grade … boy, [trained and worked, consumed by his dream] of breaking this record.

“In his first of three attempts, Bobby climbed the rope in 2.1 seconds, tying the record. On the second try the watch stopped at 2.0 seconds flat, a record! But as he descended the rope and the entire class gathered around to check the watch, I knew I must ask Bobby a question. There was a slight doubt in my mind whether or not the board at the 15-foot height had been touched. If he missed, it was so very, very close—not more than a fraction of an inch—and only Bobby knew this answer.

“As he walked toward me, expressionless, I said, ‘Bobby, did you touch?’ If he had said, ‘Yes,’ the record he had dreamed of since he was a skinny seventh-grader and had worked for almost daily would be his, and he knew I would trust his word.

“With the class already cheering him for his performance, the slim, brown-skinned boy shook his head negatively. And in this simple gesture, I witnessed a moment of greatness. …

“… And it was with effort through a tight throat that I told the class: ‘This boy has not set a record in the rope climb. No, he has set a much finer record for you and everyone to strive for. He has told the truth.’

“I turned to Bobby and said, ‘Bobby, I’m proud of you. You’ve just set a record many athletes never attain. Now, in your last try I want you to jump a few inches higher on the takeoff.’ …

“After the other boys had finished their next turns, and Bobby came up … for his try, a strange stillness came over the gymnasium. Fifty boys and one coach [watched] breathlessly [as] Bobby Polacio … climbed the rope in 1.9 seconds! A school record, a city record, and perhaps close to a national record for a junior high school boy.

“When the bell rang and I walked away, … I was thinking: ‘Bobby, … at 14 you are a better man than I. Thank you for climbing so very, very high today.’ ” 7

These acts of integrity are not limited to strangers and those we read about.  Indeed, they happen in our own families.  When our family was younger, we sometimes went to Bellevue Square mall and let the kids play on the boats.  When Gail was 6 years old and could just barely read, she ceased playing on those boats.  She had read a sign that said “children (under 6) at play.”  Once she read that sign, no amount of encouragement from others including adults could get her to play on the boats.  She knew the rules expressed in writing; and she followed them.

I think of a young boy named Isaac.  Around the time of Isaac’s eighth birthday, his school teacher offered the class some hot cocoa.  Isaac knew that there were certain things he should not take into his body including tea, coffee, and alcohol, but he wasn’t sure what cocoa was and whether it was something against the Word of Wisdom.  When his teacher asked him if he wanted some, he politely declined stating that he needed to check with his parents to see if cocoa was something he should drink.

Now you and I know that hot cocoa is just another name for hot chocolate and that hot chocolate is not coffee, tea, or tobacco.  But that little boy did not know that and rather than take a chance and possibly break the Word of Wisdom, he refused to partake.  Shortly after the incident, that boy’s teacher, almost in tears, spoke to me of how impressed she was that someone so young had the courage to politely decline something that everyone else was drinking.

When we violate our integrity, we hurt ourselves.  Though no one else may know that we have done something that we feel is wrong, we know.  And it weakens us in our fight against sin.

James E. Faust states.  “Stealing is all too common throughout the world. For many, their reasoning seems to be, “What can I get away with?” or “It’s OK to do it as long as I don’t get caught!”” I can think of no wealth or fame worth my integrity.  In the words of Iago, a character in the play Othello:

Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing;
’Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed. 4

In Proverbs we read, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.”

Imagine how different the world would be if each youth and each adult acted like Joseph of Egypt when faced with lustful Potipher’s wife and “got himself out” rather than partake of the evils of the world.  Imagine if each person had the integrity of the stripling warriors who “did not fear death; and … did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives.  Alma 56:50.  They were men who were true in all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.  Alma 53:20.  Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea and even according to their faith, it was done unto them.  Alma 57:21

I close with a truth expressed in Hamlet, a play by Shakespeare, when Polonius instructs his son:

This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Hamlet, 1, iii, 52-73

I testify that Jesus lives and that he was the master exemplar of integrity.  As President Monson has said, “His example points the way. When faced with temptation, He shunned it. When offered the world, He declined it. When asked for His life, He gave it.”

It is my humble prayer that I may so live on this earth to merit God’s words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant enter thou into my rest.”  I testify that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. Amen.

Other Stories: James E. Faust, “Honesty—a Moral Compass,” Ensign, Nov 1996, 41

Cheating in school is a form of self-deception. We go to school to learn. We cheat ourselves when we coast on the efforts and scholarship of someone else.

A friend related this experience her husband had while attending medical school. “Getting into medical school is pretty competitive, and the desire to do well and be successful puts a great deal of pressure on the new incoming freshmen. My husband had worked hard on his studies and went to attend his first examination. The honor system was expected behavior at the medical school. The professor passed out the examination and left the room. Within a short time, students started to pull little cheat papers out from under their papers or from their pockets. My husband recalled his heart beginning to pound as he realized it is pretty hard to compete against cheaters. About that time a tall, lanky student stood up in the back of the room and stated: ‘I left my hometown and put my wife and three little babies in an upstairs apartment and worked very hard to get into medical school. And I’ll turn in the first one of you who cheats, and you better believe it!’ They believed it. There were many sheepish expressions, and those cheat papers started to disappear as fast as they had appeared. He set a standard for the class which eventually graduated the largest group in the school’s history.” 2

There are different shades of truth telling. When we tell little white lies, we become progressively color-blind. It is better to remain silent than to mislead. The degree to which each of us tells the whole truth and nothing but the truth depends on our conscience. David Casstevens of the Dallas Morning News tells a story about Frank Szymanski, a Notre Dame center in the 1940s, who had been called as a witness in a civil suit at South Bend, Indiana.

“Are you on the Notre Dame football team this year?” the judge asked.

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“What position?”

“Center, Your Honor.”

“How good a center?”

Szymanski squirmed in his seat, but said firmly, “Sir, I’m the best center Notre Dame has ever had.”

Coach Frank Leahy, who was in the courtroom, was surprised. Szymanski always had been modest and unassuming. So when the proceedings were over, he took Szymanski aside and asked why he had made such a statement. Szymanski blushed. “I hated to do it, Coach,” he said. “But, after all, I was under oath.”

In the fateful war year of 1942, I was inducted into the United States Army Air Corps. One cold night at Chanute Field, Illinois, I was given all-night guard duty. As I walked around my post, I meditated and pondered the whole miserable, long night through. By morning I had come to some firm conclusions. I was engaged to be married and knew that I could not support my wife on a private’s pay. In a day or two, I filed my application for Officer’s Candidate School. Shortly thereafter, I was summoned before the board of inquiry. My qualifications were few, but I had had two years of college and had finished a mission for the Church in South America.

The questions asked of me at the officers’ board of inquiry took a very surprising turn. Nearly all of them centered upon my beliefs. “Do you smoke?” “Do you drink?” “What do you think of others who smoke and drink?” I had no trouble answering these questions.

“Do you pray?” “Do you believe that an officer should pray?” The officer asking these questions was a hard-bitten career soldier. He did not look like he prayed very often. I pondered. Would I give him offense if I answered how I truly believed? I wanted to be an officer very much so that I would not have to do all-night guard duty and KP and clean latrines, but mostly so my sweetheart and I could afford to be married.

I decided not to equivocate. I admitted that I did pray and that I felt that officers might seek divine guidance as some truly great generals had done. I told them that I thought that officers should be prepared to lead their men in all appropriate activities, if the occasion requires, including prayer.

More interesting questions came. “In times of war, should not the moral code be relaxed? Does not the stress of battle justify men in doing things that they would not do when at home under normal situations?”

I recognized that here was a chance perhaps to make some points and look broad-minded. I suspected that the men who were asking me this question did not live by the standards that I had been taught. The thought flashed through my mind that perhaps I could say that I had my own beliefs, but I did not wish to impose them on others. But there seemed to flash before my mind the faces of the many people to whom I had taught the law of chastity as a missionary. In the end I simply said, “I do not believe there is a double standard of morality.”

I left the hearing resigned to the fact that these hard-bitten officers would not like the answers I had given to their questions and would surely score me very low. A few days later when the scores were posted, to my astonishment I had passed. I was in the first group taken for Officer’s Candidate School! I graduated, became a second lieutenant, married my sweetheart, and we have “lived together happily ever after.”

Marion G. Romney, “Integrity,” Ensign, Nov. 1974, 73

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that absolute integrity must precede the promise of eternal life. He said:

“After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost, … then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted.”

This promise is to come, however, only after “the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve him at all hazards.” (History of the Church, 3:380.)

President N. Eldon Tanner, a former counselor in the First Presidency and a man of integrity, told of someone who sought his advice:

“A young man came to me not long ago and said, ‘I made an agreement with a man that requires me to make certain payments each year. I am in arrears, and I can’t make those payments, for if I do, it is going to cause me to lose my home. What shall I do?’

“I looked at him and said, ‘Keep your agreement.’

“ ‘Even if it costs me my home?’

“I said, ‘I am not talking about your home. I am talking about your agreement; and I think your wife would rather have a husband who would keep his word, meet his obligations, … and have to rent a home than to have a home with a husband who will not keep his covenants and his pledges.’ ” 5

Being true to oneself at times requires extraordinary strength and courage. For instance, in the early days of the Church it was very unpopular, even dangerous, to uphold Joseph Smith as a prophet of God. Lyman Wight was one of those imprisoned by the leaders of a mob in 1839.

General Wilson advised Brother Wight, “We do not wish to hurt you nor kill you,” and then following an oath said, “but we have one thing against you, and that is, you are too friendly to Joe Smith, … Wight, you know all about his character.”

Brother Wight said, “I do, sir.”

“Will you swear all you know concerning him?” said Wilson.

Brother Wight then told Wilson he “believed … Joseph Smith to be the most philanthropic man he ever saw, and possessed of the most pure … principles—a friend to mankind, a maker of peace.”

Wilson then observed, “Wight, I fear your life is in danger, for there is no end to the prejudice against Joe Smith.”

“Kill and be damned, sir,” was Brother Wight’s answer.

Returning later that night, Wilson told Lyman Wight: “I regret to tell you your die is cast; your doom is fixed; you are sentenced to be shot tomorrow morning on the public square in Far West, at eight o’clock.”

Brother Wight answered, “Shoot, and be damned.”

The decree of execution of the prisoners was revoked the next morning. (See History of the Church, 3:446–47.)