Sunday evening is here and I am tired from a busy weekend at the Sustainability Fair. The fair was good to us as we sold lots of shirts, had some excellent conversations, and made some good contacts. The day was windy and potentially stormy for a while. Our booth lifted its weights and all and moved back a foot after a particularly forceful gust of wind. Being outdoors in the elements is so nice when the weather plays along.
I was thinking about integrity and how important of a quality it is especially today when so many seem to have forgotten what that means. It seems that in politics integrity is no longer valued. In many companies integrity is no longer a concern. In sports integrity is push aside with winning the highest value. In churches ministers and priests lack the integrity to live according to the values they preach about. Even the President of the US and his VP seem to say whatever they want with no concern about integrity or truth. What kind of models are these people who in the past were looked up to and now don’t seem to value integrity?
I don’t know about you, but to me integrity is an important value and one each of us must live by if we are going to feel ok about ourselves and be trusted by others. More than a few politicians, Presidents, CEO’s, corporations, ministers, athletes , coaches, media etc. seem to have forgotten that integrity is a key component of what they do. If integrity is not valued then how is trust possible?
Does integrity matter to you? Should our government and our elected officials have integrity? Should corporations have integrity? Should ministers and churches have integrity? Should sports have integrity? Is lying, cheating, abusing power, deceit, misinformation, and whatever else, lacking integrity, ok now? If profits are made, if games are won, if power is achieved, if agendas are realized, without integrity, are they still ok? I don’t think so, but if you watch what is going on in the world you must wonder why the lack of integrity has become rationalized in so many ways that make it acceptable. Does it seem to you that the truth to many doesn’t matter as long as the goal is achieved?
Tomorrow I want to talk about living in integrity and speaking up for what you believe in and what you know is right.