Integrity in life

Something is really amiss in our society. There is an overriding negativity greeting us at every turn in life. Simple human trust and integrity is sorely lacking. Who can we believe? Who can we trust?

I should have seen it coming because way back at the beginning of my ministry – over 40 years ago – one of the teenagers from the church’s youth group got caught shoplifting from the local convenience store. He was sorry or so he said when in actuality he was only sorry that he got caught. This scenario was to repeat itself in every church that I served. Both trust and integrity were lacking.

In the last issue of TIME magazine (March 22, 2010) the feature special is: “10 Ideas for the Next 10 Years.” Number 9 – “The Twilight of the Elites … Why we have entered the post-trust era,” begins with this sobering observation: “In the past decade, nearly every pillar institution in American society … has revealed itself to be corrupt, incompetent or both. And at the root of these failures are the people who run these institutions … But after a cascade of scandals and catastrophes, the implicit social contract lies in ruins, replaced by mass skepticism, contempt and disillusionment.” (page 56)

Skepticism … contempt … disillusionment … How do we recover? How can we re-build the trust and integrity which are the fundamental building blocks of a healthy society?

The many e-mails that flood my in-box bear testimony to this reality. There is a lot of anger, hatred, prejudice, and bigotry being peddled all for the single purpose of allowing “their side” to win. Or, as one person shared his reasoning in forwarding these negative and offensive emails: “I just hope to open your eyes to the truth.” When are we going to realize that society cannot be built on negativity? Negative thinking destroys both the person and the object of their attack. Nobody wins.

Yes, it is possible to point an accusatory finger at Democrats or Republicans, at Wall Street or main street, at the Liberals or Conservatives, at the Supreme Court or selected set of laws, at the President or Congress, at labor unions or big corporations, at the greed of sports figures or CEOs, at mainstream media or radio talk shows, at the Catholic Church or mainline denominations … etc. … and state, as strongly as we can, “It is all your fault! If you would only agree with us then we will get back to being the country we once were.” BUT, once a person or institution has lost their integrity there is nothing left and on the altar of greed or fear we have sacrificed our integrity.

To rebuild the trust once shared, integrity in all matters must be rediscovered by each and everyone of us. John Bennett in “Social Christianity” defines integrity as the harmony between a person’s inner purpose and their outer actions.

Quote for today: “We believe in man’s infallibility, but it is restful to feel sure one man’s integrity.” Charles H. Spurgeon speaking of Gladstone