Honesty, integrity, truthful... I don't know... I don't care... At the end of the day, they all mean the exact same damn thing.
But I'll tell you guys a funny story... Of why being honest has been and still is rooted in my bloodstream and family. This goes back all the way to when my Dad was raised by my Chinese grandfather who was a very direct and honest man. I don't know too much about his childhood, but he attended Peking University, speaking English, Chinese, and Japanese which led him to work at the Chinese embassy in Japan. There he met my beautiful grandmother, who is full Japanese, and fell in love. Forbidden, as the relations between China and Japan, were very bitter, and the Chinese Embassy fired my grandfather for marrying my grandmother. A stunning, relentless, and hardworking individual who with my sturdy, intelligent, and good-looking grandfather, made and ran a Chinese Restaurant that grew in fame very quickly. Had 3 kids, which included my dad, and with old-asian tradition, used force and brutality to raise three very rascal boys. My dad told me how my grandma and grandpa never had time for them and how they were very independent since they were kids. My grandparents were too busy with the restaurant, but when they did misbehave, both my grandfather and grandmother would bring furious rath down on my dad and his brothers.
Unfortunately, I've only heard stories about my grandpa, but fortunately, I was able to be with my grandmother in her final years in Japan. My dad and grandma would tell me so many stories about my dad and his siblings' little shenanigans, but it all had one similarity. The only time that my grandparents did get extremely mad and violent was when my dad or sibling lied. Even with me... My dad has never in his life torn me up into pieces unless I lied.
My dad also had some very very rough patches with my mom, which led to him raising three rascal kids like my grandparents, but this time, by himself. Countless times in his life he had his back turned on and was double-crossed so many times that I'm surprised he still sees the good in people.
All my dad expects from me is to live only with and by the truth and to just never regret a single thing in life. That man would back me up if I killed someone or robbed a bank if I came to him and tell him the truth. He would always tell me, that it happened, now let's fix this...
It is so easy to let your ego drive you and want to be known as the best where you end up lying. If all of you can look in the mirror every night and say, damn... I've left zero stones unturned with a smile, that will make me smile.
I don't care if you are the number one athlete in the world, because I measure you with the 5 key values I live by. And all of you need to live up to my expectations on every single one of these and then you have my respect. I don't give a single s*** in the world if you got medals and trophies... How big is that heart of yours...
All I expect from every single person in this world is what my dad expects from me. From friends to family and to my girlfriend as well, all I ask from you is this.
You are already worth everything until you lie...