I truly believe the measure of somebody’s character is what they do when nobody’s looking. Are you thoughtful when nobody is around to recognize your good deed? Are you honest, even if there’s nobody there to catch you stealing?

Maybe you think choosing to do the right thing all the time takes a massive amount of integrity. It does–at the beginning–but not forever. The longer you live by integrity, the temptation to cheat, steal, lie lessens. Over time, it can become so ingrained in you, you almost don’t even think of doing anything else but the right thing.

The contrary is true, also. It’s hard to cheat, lie, or steal the first time you do it. The light we all have within ourselves recognizes and grieves when we do wrong. But, if we continue to do those things, the sorrow we have for such actions will diminish until we almost feel nothing at all. Often, people have many excuses for choosing such behavior, but I should warn you. Once someone reaches this point where doing wrong no longer bothers them, it’s difficult, almost impossible, to free oneself out of the mired misery they’ve created.