INTEGRITY

INTEGRITY

Alicia grew up in a country village nestled among the picturesque Swiss mountains. She had always cherished her dream of being the top athlete.

At the age of fifteen, Alicia was already training under a famous coach who used to train the national team for the Olympics.Her goal was to qualify for the national team and towards this end, she had been training particularly hard for the upcoming qualifying race. Her daily schedule was packed tight with her training activities,which mainly consisted of long-distance runnings with weights. Each day ended with a meeting with her coach to evaluate her performance.

The coach seemed increasingly fidgety as the days went by. Finally, one day at a meeting, the coach told Alicia bluntly,"Alicia, I... ... know you have potential, but you must understand that other competitors may have gone through better training ... ... so, i was wondering if you might require some boosters."

Alicia was dumdfounded. Her blank mind was suddenly flooded with images of news headlines about herself using prohibited substances to boost her performance. Just then, her coach stuffed an envelope containing sachets of food supplements into her hand before striding away without giving her a chance to reply.

That night, Alicia did not sleep a wink. She tossed and turned, contemplating as to whether she should take the food supplements. Late into the night, Alicia finally came to a decision. She would choose the hard way out, bearing her strenuous daily training with clear conscience.

On the day of the race, as soon as the starting gun was fired, Alicia shot off like an arrow and thundered down the track. Amidst the cheering and thunderous applause, Alicia was the first to cross the finishing line.

As she held the trophy joyfully, Alicia also enjoyed a quiet victory for keeping her integrity.

MY REFLECTIONS

Integrity is standing by your word. Not backing out of commitment. Integrity is when you say something or promise something you are true to your word. Not saying something to schmooze another person or to make yourself look good in another persons eyes.

DONE BY JIA QI ONLY