-Please edit/criticize/tear-apart this essay all you feel the need to, because I appreciate all criticism!! Please be blunt and don't sugar coat.
-I'm trying to submit this tonight so any quick feedback is welcome!
-I don't feel too confident about my conclusion, and I feel that it needs alot of help, so please feel free...
Prompt: What matters to you, and why?
The motivational speaker and author, Denis E. Waitley once said, "A life lived with integrity - even if it lacks the trappings of fame and fortune is a shining star in whose light others may follow in the years." Integrity is something that we all find ourselves in a struggle with at one point or another during our lives. For me, it is something that I struggle with daily. To do what I know is right even when no one is watching, to monitor what I say in speech, to internally guide my actions so as not to lead others to false conclusions about who I am as a person. That is my struggle. But as convoluted as it seems, that is what matters to me. Not because I let other people's opinions mold me, but because I want to let the way I live my life mold others. The inner struggle of integrity is what matters, because when all is said and done, that will be all that remains. My choices I make now are affecting others and I know this. I am aware that I am a very influential person. Whether it is to my friends, family, or even strangers, I am aware of the power I possess that I could easily abuse. That is why everyday that I am alive, I try my best to carry myself with integrity and stray from things that encourage the opposite. This is not easy being that I am so young, but as I mentioned before, I know that I when I am gone, I want others to be able to look at how I lived and feel that they too can live their lives with integrity. I am in no ways saying that I am perfect or that I will never make a mistake, because I have, but I am saying that there is no harm in trying to live the best way I can, or in thinking past yourself and your lifetime.
