Journal #17: Would You Lie For Someone?

I will never forget the phone call. It caught me completely off guard. “Hello?” She barely said hello back. “Stephanie, when my husband calls, I need you to lie and say that I was with you.” I could hear the stress in her voice. She was cheating on her husband and wanted me to cover her tracks. I will share what I did at the end. 

What is integrity? It means that people can count on you to show up when you say that you will, and that you live your life the same way in public as you do in private. The Oxford Dictionary adds, “The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles,” and someone who lives in, “the state of being whole and undivided.” Dishonesty and division are listed as the opposite character traits of integrity. Do you play on Facebook when your boss isn’t around? That’s stealing. Do you gossip at lunch with your colleagues? Are you scared to eat alone? Gossip is judging someone. You can ruin someone’s reputation by spreading misinformation. Words are dangerous. I remember a time my big mouth almost cost someone their job. I didn’t mean to, but I was reckless with my words. How dare we judge other people when we don’t have our own lives together! We should mind our own business!

When I got that phone call, I knew what I had to do. I am a person of faith so I said, “I can’t lie for you. Not because I don’t care about you, but I care more about my relationship with God. I also can’t help you hurt everyone with this lie.” I make big mistakes too, but now at 50, I don’t want to keep failing the same tests. One day I hope to write a book with a chapter that says, “You won’t always feel like doing the right thing, but you do it because it is the right thing to do.” Go somewhere quiet and evaluate if you are someone who lives with integrity, or someone who gets lost in the crowd with all the other people who compromise? 

 

Stephanie Preston creates powerful, humorous videos on managing bipolar disorder symptoms. She is a Social Service Worker, Health Care Aide and suffers from severe bipolar depression herself. She is the proud wife of St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston, loves being a grandma and is Crossfit obsessed. Follow her at www.tiktok.com/@bipolaronthebrain and www.facebook.com/bipolaronthebrain.