Integrity

WHAT is integrity? My little dictionary says it means wholeness or the unreduced and unbroken completeness or totality.

We're supposed to be one complete piece, not divided or deficient, even though we are made of parts. Many and endless parts, in fact.

We should not be interested only in the physical well-being, but also in the mental. Not only the material aspect, but also the spiritual. Not only the personal side, but also the social. Not only in our private moments, but also in our moments with others.

We are supposed to uphold what is truly good for all and for each one in all aspects and situations, always and everywhere. Whether we are alone or with others, with men or with women, with the old or with the young.

That's what a person of integrity is. There's a certain consistency and unity in his being and in his doings. In his thoughts and in his words and actions. Whether in big things or in small, in the inside as well as in the outside, the concrete ones or in the abstract.

He certainly knows how to distinguish things and conditions, and can vary his behavior according to the situation. He knows how to be discrete and prudent. These qualities are never enemies of integrity.

But there is an undeniable consistency in all these, springing from a clear knowledge of what he ultimately and constantly is.

Alas, he also knows integrity cannot only be the fruit of human effort. A much higher form of power and strength is needed to effect it.

He knows he is not and cannot be confined to the human and natural dimension of life. He is aware of the supernatural reality to which he is also subject, and strives to live also by its laws.

In other words, he knows how to live both in his temporal and eternal dimensions, without exaggerating one at the expense of the other. This is the irreducible wholeness expected of all of us.

But I get the impression many people do not bother anymore about developing and maintaining integrity.

The problems and cares in life seem to dissolve any interest that people should have about this duty. They are contented with just getting by, doing what comes spontaneously, or what simply is practical and helpful at the moment.

There is not much interest about what man should be. Everything is experimental or a matter of opinion and consensus. There is no clear idea about what he truly is.

There is no attempt at getting a definition that can be applied to all men at all times, irrespective of cultures and climes through ages and places. There is no interest to understand man more deeply.

Many don't go beyond how they feel, how they think, what they observe around to get an idea of what man should be. The result is that human understanding about man gets deficient, if not distorted or even openly wrong.

This is lamentable, of course, a genuine crisis. We may not like to admit it, but its manifestations are all around us.

Start with the more conspicuous public figures, our politicians, whose lack of integrity is written large for all, even the most simple-minded, to see. Recent developments in local politics show politicians entangled with partisanship if not pure self-interest, and blind to the bigger requirements of the common good.

Consider the pervading mentality that accepts contraception as a good means to effect some population balance. People do not yet see the inherent evil of contraception. They just get contented at the thought that contraception is not as bad as abortion.

Of course, all around us everyday are constant examples of inconsistencies between words and deeds, desires and performance, what is public and what is private, external and internal.

We have to develop a sense of integrity. And it has to start with the return to God, for without him, we would not have the source, the power and the reason to achieve this elusive ideal of human integrity.

No God, no integrity. Just full of show and promise, but no substance, no loyalty, no reliability.