Article of Faith #13 Part 2 Honest and True

The thirteenth article of faith say "We believe in being honest, true..."

Whenever I think of being honest and true, I think of integrity. There are many quotations in the scriptures about honesty/being true/integrity, but anytime I think of that character trait I associate it my Grandpa Schmidt. My whole life, anytime someone would talk about integrity, my parents would tell me about how much integrity my Grandpa had. A couple years ago, my dad wrote me a letter of advice. I treasure this letter and the important things my dad said in it. This is what he writes about integrity:

"One of my favorite words in the English language is integrity. I like it because it is more than honesty. It is like honesty on steroids. It means that you are honest when it doesn't matter to anyone and no one but you knows the difference. It means that you have enough self-respect that you will do what is right because it is right. Your grandfather was a lot like that and I have always known that I could count on Henry Schmidt's moral compass if mine was in a magnetic field or not sending a clear signal. It is better to give a little more to the other guy than it to be off balance on your own side....An example of this was when dad was bailing hay in Wyoming during the depression. He had contracted with a man to bail his hay and then haul it to Salt Lake and sell it. As I remember the story, dad was to bail and haul the hay to Salt Lake and they would split the money in half. The man really needed his share of money fast so dad gave it to him in advance. Dad couldn't r really afford to do this but the man was pretty desperate. When dad got to Salt Lake with the hay the price had gone up considerably. Because the deal had been made in advance, dad had every right to keep the added money , but my pop split the profit right down the middle and shared the gain rather than keep it for himself. It probably would not have mattered if dad kept the gain and the other fellow would never have known the difference. What does matter is dad did the right thing. Never let anything get in the way of your integrity."

There was a day when I was in a clinical rotation and I was writing a note in the chart and I went to write down my finding on the abdominal exam. I realized I had forgotten to do it, but I knew it was normal because the patient told me they were feeling great and hadn't noticed any problems. I was about to write down that the abdominal exam was normal (I had seen my preceptor do the same thing many times before). Then I started thinking about my Grandpa Schmidt and the meaning of integrity. I knew that by writing that the abdominal exam was normal I was certifying that I had done it, even though I hadn't. I realized that losing my integrity was not worth the few minutes it would take me to walk down the hall and actually DO the abdominal exam. It only took me a few minutes, and it was normal (as I had expected it would be), but I new in my heart that I had done the right thing. That to me is what it means to be honest and true. I believe in being honest and true.