The word INTEGRITY is one of the most overused and misused words. We castigate leaders for lack of integrity and, pontificate about the values of integrity and write articles and books on its importance. We see people striving to portray images of integrity and even creating systems, procedures and structures that are intended to enhance integrity in government or in our organizations. So, is integrity just a perception or ideal that we should strive to achieve, or is it something more than that?
As a writer, I have had the privilege of being engaged by different people to help them craft their autobiographies. I am fascinated by the lengths to which people will go in order to paint themselves as people of integrity.
I don’t know how many funerals I have attended and listened in amusement to eulogies that attempt to jump over glaring truths about a person’s life and portrays the dearly departed as a person of honor. Maybe this is the culturally correct thing to do. I don’t know. But that too seems to be lacking in integrity.
People cheat on exams, engage in plagiarism or pay their way to academic success. CVs are doctored or outright falsified to open doors for career advancement. Builders cut corners and put lives at risk in order to make a few extra shillings. Sometimes the perpetrators are caught, but I believe most often they are not.
We dye our hair to appear younger and spend a lot of money on trappings whose only purpose is to portray us in in a way that we think will enhance our acceptability. Men and women cheat on their spouses and hope that no one ever finds out. If they were found out, it could seriously damage their reputations. It would portray them as people who cannot be trusted. God forbid. Image is everything. Or is it?
I sat in a restaurant recently, and I remember thinking how much I needed to trust that whoever had prepared the food had done the right thing. What if they hadn’t? Was there another restaurant in the area that would be more trustworthy? Where do we find people, organizations or systems that are founded on integrity? And what would that mean, exactly?
Earlier this year, I walked into to a pharmacy to buy some drugs, and the pharmacist looked at my prescription and told me of a cheaper alternative that would do exactly the same thing. I looked at him – a total stranger – and I decided to trust what he was telling me. I put my health on the line by trusting in his integrity. I paid a price for that mistake.
Integrity, it seems, is the glue that holds any society together. This thing called trust is not just about them. It’s about us. It’s about me. It’s about you. When people can no longer trust what we profess, what we promise and what we present, then there is nothing left that has any real value. NOTHING!
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