Focus on Education Integrity: The Basic Moral Fiber of Man By: Anthony S. Pellegrino Part I
An employee has been stealing office supplies over the past year. Should we report him? A friend is tapped illegally into the CUC power lines and is getting free electricity. Should we ignore it? Your son/daughter was caught cheating on a test. The teacher has informed you about it. Will you shrug it off and do nothing about it? A bill is pending in the Legislature that you feel strongly about because you know it will benefit you and some of your friends at the expense of your fellow citizens. What will you do? You have learned that a certain person has taken a bribe. Will you just keep quiet because if you report it, you may lose his friendship?
In examining these problems I am reminded of the word: integrity. a vital and complex part of our life. Because of limitation of space, I can only touch on it’s meaning and value here. But I hope this will stimulate you to read and reflect about it further. In discussing the concept of integrity, think of the part it plays in our life and the effect it has in our society. Is integrity well and alive or is it holding on to the ropes trying to catch its breath?
Because children are taught by word, habit, and example, it is important that we examine this word integrity and see if we are practicing it properly. The responsibility is a shared one. The lessons in right and wrong that children learn at home must be reinforced, not only in the curriculum of the public schools, but by the examples of adults and institutions throughout society.
Integrity affects our life in many ways. In the workplace we are constantly besieged with choices of right and wrong. To the degree the government practices integrity can inspire us to believe in the future. The practice of integrity in our marriage either enriches or destroys it. Integrity demands consistent attention to what we should do rather than to what we desire to do.
Because the word integrity is abstract, it is difficult to define. Unlike a concrete word which can be defined through our senses, we understand the word integrity from our actions. The Latin root integer means wholeness. A person of integrity, like a whole number, is a whole person, a person somehow undivided. That person adheres to a code of values, utter sincerity, honesty, and candor. A person of integrity can admire even a person with whom he disagrees if there is truth, honesty, and sincerity involved.
Integrity requires three steps:
1) revealing insight and understanding of what is right and what is wrong
2) acting on what we have discerned even at personal cost; and
3) saying openly that we are acting on our understanding of right and wrong.
The most important point is that the man of integrity must take action to right what he considers a wrong. He simply does not express that it is wrong, but will take action at whatever cost. In order to live with integrity, it is sometimes necessary to take that difficult step–to get involved–to fight openly for what one believes to be true, right and good, even when there is a risk to oneself.
A person of integrity lurks somewhere inside each of us; a person we can trust to do right, to play by the rules, to keep commitments. The life that is lived with integrity is a life of striving towards the good and the true. It is more like a journey rather than a destination. (continued)
