Personal integrity

personal integrity is a complicated thing. I demand it of myself, and find the lack of itin others to be very disapointing. I understand that people often tend to mirror what they learned from the people that raised them, and from a young age trusted dishonest rolemodels. This leaves one struggling to rise above the false facade or failing to bother. I recall as I was only 4 years old, during one of my father's attacks, he hwld a knife to my throat and told me I had better say that I loved what he was doing to mw or he would cut my throat from ear to ear. I told him "you're going to have to kill me then, because you can't make me lie.". He laughed at me. I resisted being forced to betray myself, and he stopped thrwatening me... that time. there were plenty of other threats, but not to try to force me to lie. People lie for lots of reasons, but none of them are excuses. If we fail to honor the truth, we dishonor ourselves and others. I qas so badly bullied when my son was born, my mind escaped into depression and chaos. It took me 42 years to free myself from that prison, and I refuse to be pushed back into darkness ever again.