The value of integrity

Promise, they say, is a debt, and that is why it’s very dangerous to promise people. It is very easy to promise, but when it comes to keeping it, it is hard because one way or the other you might fail to keep the promise, meanwhile the person you promised is waiting for you to fulfill your promises to him or her.

Keeping promises is like swearing an oath with someone because your mind will always be there, and if by any chance you forget, the other person will not, so we must be careful and think twice before saying, “I promise you I will do it.” That word sounds so simple, but it carries a lot of weight and energy.

I don’t like promising people because I might not keep to it—not that I don’t want to, but I might forget, or I might not be available for the person when he or she needs me, so I always play it safe by not promising.

If at all I promise someone, it means I do not have a choice and that person must have disturbed me for a long time, and once I make a promise to the person, that is where my mind will be until I am able to keep my promise. I don’t know if this happens to people or it’s just my heart that is malfunctioning; whenever I promise people, I am always scared, and I will also be restless until I fulfill my promise.

Despite avoiding broken promises I broke my promise to some years back; it happened when I got married. There was this agent that helped my sister with her registry because her husband was too busy to go for counseling.

So I thought of using an agent as well since my place is very far from where the counseling is being held. The agent carried out all the necessary paperwork for us, and he got paid for it as usual.

After the registry, he messaged me to confirm if we got our documents completed and our pictures as well, which I had already done, so I confirmed it for him.

Lastly, he asked for a tip for a job well done; indeed, he really did a great job because if not for him, the process would be very slow and stressful at the same time, so I asked him to drop his account details, and I also explained to him that I don’t have any money at the moment, and he said he understood and then dropped his account number so that I could send him anything anytime I have it. I promised him the next coming week so that he wouldn’t think I just asked him to send account details for fun.

I didn’t forget my promise to him at all, but when it was time to keep my promise, I couldn’t because I didn’t have money on me yet, and I couldn’t reach out to him to explain such a thing to him, so I just acted as if I didn’t remember again, and ever since then, he stopped talking to me, which I understand because he was expecting me to fulfill my promises to him, which I failed to do when he needed it. I was restless for some time because I failed to keep the promise, but there was nothing I could do since I didn’t have what he wanted. A week later I tried to apologize to him, but he had already blocked my number, and that was what the broken promise caused me.