Aging with Grace

Definition of integrity – the quality of being honest and having strong moral principals.

Oxford Dictionaries

Integrity sounds like a high – minded and pretentious ideal. Something many may aspire to and few achieve Maybe not, maybe it can be demonstrated in something as easily achieved as following the rules in sports. For example, my husband is a golfer. Golf is a game with many defined rules of etiquette. Many of the rules might be bent. Cheating, however, is one that most golfers can’t overlook. Our local football team has a player that repeatedly and unrepentantly committed several fouls during games. He was soon found sitting on the bench instead of playing. These are examples of consequences of ones actions.

Whether in sports, business or life, there are rules we are required to follow in the interest of fairness and achieving a smooth transition through whatever the activity is. Without rules we would have chaos.

In today’s world, we seem to have subjugated integrity and honesty for an ends justifies the means philosophy. This appears to be particularly true in politics and government. Some are willing to overlook the actions of others as long as they achieve the desired result. It worries me that if we allow those without ethics to control our government we will be the ones to ultimately pay the price. Lack of ethics doesn’t cease once the prize is won.