So, finding a quote that I felt suitable for this week “weekly essay” assignment became, surprisingly, a predicament. However, there is always a solution. The quote I found compelling is ” I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law” in paragraph twenty. I found this quote compelling because it speaks of what I would consider a definition of true integrity, and to me true integrity is the most important value anyone could exhibit. True integrity is when, no matter the circumstances, who your with, or what your doing, you will always do what you feel is morally correct, even if what’s morally correct will is misfortunate to others, or yourself.
When I was a freshman in high school, my English teacher, Mrs. Garrett, had all of her pupils do a daily writing assignment, usually dealing with moral values or stories that allow the student to express his belief’s and emotions. One day, Mrs. Garrett decided to ask the students to list whom, in the student body, did they feel had true integrity, and why. A couple of days later, my English teacher and I were talking about that specific writing prompt, because I had asked her why she asked the “integrity” question. She responded with one word and a facial expression: curiosity, and a smile. Later on that day, my geometry teacher, Mrs. Harrell, and I were talking and she mentioned that she heard I was someone of true integrity. That is when I learned the most common answer the rest of the student body wrote to Mrs. Garrett’s assignment was I. Word had gotten around, even to the teachers, that I was someone of true integrity. My peers, my mentors, were congratulating me and proud of me because I always do what I feel is right. Because of that occurrence my freshman year, I can relate to Martin Luther King’s statement in his letter from Birmingham Jail. Obviously True integrity is an important value to have and express. If it wasn’t, then why were my peers proud to hear other students write that about me?
