It’s only realistic to say that complying with dishonesty and misuse of authority and power has marked our daily lives, it is now something to be okay with and not to involve in one’s self-assessment, for the simple reason that one cannot be the judge of their own integrity nor can one see beyond their own personal moral compass. These morals have been mutilated by the force of habit, one that is conducted by the masses and the communities we live in, and it has caused many wrongdoings as well as a constant violation of integrity.
On a less dramatic tone here, I must say that there’s a whole spectrum of morals, of rights and wrongs but to avoid dwelling on that, let’s talk about the fact that when the word “Integrity” gets mentioned in our community it instantly sparks some leaders’ faces, politicians and so on, the term has turned out to be reserved only for politicians to use, yet that isn’t so consistent of us as a community, it’s true that an integritous behavior run by a certain leader or even a politician is an immense help to create a positive change and to enhance some collective perceptions of this value, yet aren’t we missing something here?
The individual perception of integrity is completely different, it differs from one another according to the set of values and morals one has grew up with, it is limited to each one’s viewpoint and that has led to so many misconceptions and countless abuses, which is only natural to happen when someone is so caught up in chasing their desires without thinking twice about the means they take, in fact, even if there were second thoughts, there is usually a made up excuse aligned with them. And to add clarity to the previous statements, let’s display some scenes one could come across almost regularly, as a citizen, there must be cases of bribery witnessed, in order to accelerate a procedure or to get away with a guilty demeanor, the cases of favoritism, sexism, conflict of interests, discrimination, endless ones, in administrations, educative institutions, even local shops and markets, you name it.
A question of why did these corrupted ways grew into being the accustomed actions rises to the surface, but before asking it, shouldn’t we wonder what makes us strive for integrity in the first place? As an individual, driven by the desire to do good yet seeking illegitimate actions to fulfill your needs, what makes you strive? What’s in it for you? Could it be the credibility you’d gain? Could it be the so called inner peace or implicated honesty with one’s self and eventually others as well? Or maybe it’s the transparency that makes others hand you their trust, or perhaps is it the courage to speak for what you believe in? which as you might have guessed would have gotten others tend to be loyal to you, Tempting huh?
It’s not so ambiguous to detect that the commitment to these morals seems at times so rigid and tough, isn’t it? Especially when the leaders of a community aren’t so credible, neither transparent nor trustworthy, “some” might even say, how can a “normal citizen”-and this expression is used way too commonly to describe citizens who aren’t in a position of authority, sometimes even to justify acts of violence- act all righteous when the ones in charge are muddling around? Well “some” are wrong aren’t they!
The ones in charge’s integrity has little to do with the rest of the people, it is only our mere desire to blame, to escape guilt and so, by pointing fingers towards the ones in power, the nation’s leaders or the bosses at work. And thus the compliance with dishonesty keeps on occurring till it’s a quotidian thing done shamelessly and defiantly, and whomever stands up for what’s right gets abused, and evidently, this can only indicate the damage done to the moral reflection, the question now is how can this get repaired! How can we promote values such as accountability and responsibility amidst all of the cheering on corruption’s side?
It’s unmistakable to believe that now more than ever, it’s essential to have entities constantly observing, detecting violations and reporting them while communicating to the masses about it, and you probably heard this expression a million times before but communication is key! In order to set an example, to remind them of the basic morals and to ensure the far-fetched coherence of right and wrong and even more, embedding it with the concept of integrity. It would be naïve though to believe that the people would stop violating laws and being dishonest just so they wouldn’t be caught, right? Just for the sole reason that they’re being watched and they might get trapped? It doesn’t take a genius to know that fear is probably not the right stimulus, the role played by these parts of a community is way broader.
the plan is to reach out to the good seed in each one of us, the good morals or perhaps the unmutilated ones, and to talk some sense into our perceptions, through pointing out how crucial it is to live up to our values, to wait in line at a bank or even a grocery store and not to talk to the cousin who works there to accelerate the process, to not to cheat, to treat your employees the same way and not based on their gender or their color, to stay true to your company’s objectives and not to take unethical shortcuts to gain more money, to have consistent viewpoints and not to manipulate your audience.. etc.
It’s a hard road getting there, to a reality where we no longer comply with dishonesty and misconducts, or abuse those who stand up for the truth, but we wouldn’t mind the waiting wouldn’t we? Especially if there’s a good chance of us getting there.
