Integrity [ in–teg–ri-tee ]
Part 4,
The righteous walk in integrity—
happy are the children who follow them.
~ Proverbs 20:7
Cease to do evil. Learn to do good.
Make justice your home forever. ~ Isaiah 1:16
If the main arbiter for all significant life decisions is reduced to what it will do for ME, MY, MINE—my way, my wants, my self-interest, my family, my religion, my politics, my country, my ball team, my fear of change, my prejudices, my financial holdings, my God—that individual or collective is morally impoverished and doomed. For those who call themselves a Christian, let’s be honest: this is a violation and mockery of the basic vision and values of the gospel as proclaimed and embodied by Jesus.
How about we start with the basic rules of conduct that any high school debate team would know and adhere to—extend respect and courtesy to our opponent. Argue fairly, even passionately, but do so in a dignified manner. Do our homework. Back up what we say with verifiable evidence and facts. How hard is it to treat one another with respect, to speak softly and carry no stick, to actually listen to one another, to act civilly, and to negotiate fairly, instead of acting—in the Senate and House Chambers and School Board Meeting Rooms—like rabid parents running on the field of our children and grandchildren’s ballgame like fools and embarrassing them and ourselves by slugging the referee because we think s/he called it the wrong way? Metaphor complete.
Choosing to do what is easiest, convenient, and serves our own “group” or our own selfish interests with complete guileless disregard for the truth and the well-being of others insures that those who act with Integrity will soon be—if they are not already—unfairly impugned, gaslighted, or punished for simply valuing and telling the truth. How tragic and dangerous.
Rabbi Heschel warns of becoming so used to duplicity, immaturity, wrongdoing, injustice, violence, and evil that when they appear in the flesh we are no longer even surprised. He chides us, “We must learn how to be surprised, not to adjust ourselves. I am the most maladjusted person in society.” The danger, he points out, is that expecting the worst from people is just one small step from accommodating it. He decries our complicity in enabling inappropriate, harmful, and reprobated conduct. But it’s so wearying. Sometimes all I got in my bag of words is “Grow Up!”
If Jesus had not already been raised, I’d say he’d be rolling over in his grave at how spineless and Gumby-like, how childish and ill-mannered, how cocky and puffed up so many of our leaders—who are supposed to represent us—act. How weak and sheep-like are so many of the enablers and followers. Christian leaders (as opposed to political leaders who call themselves Christians)—among whom I humbly consider myself one—have largely failed to communicate what the gospel really is and to what kind of life the Christ-life actually calls us. Otherwise, how could so many who self-identify as Christians ignore or contort the gospels to condone their words and actions. The truth is, measured by the calculations of the dominant culture, following Jesus is a rather inexpedient affair.
Jesus, who pointed the way, embodied the truth, and offered the life that is enduring and at the heart of the reign of God, offered clear example of Integrity when standing before Pilate he said, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” Pilate asks, “What is truth” (Jn. 18:38)? John the evangelist assigns to Jesus no spoken response suggesting Jesus, bloodied and with a fat lip, answers Pilate’s question—not with what is expedient, not with what will get him in the good graces of the Roman prefect, not with what will get his name scratched off the Number 1 spot on the soon-to-be-released Death Row Top 10 List, but—by simply standing his ground, standing tall before Pilate with the unwavering veracity and Integrity of his life: Here I am. It is reasonable to imagine, in the absence of any recorded response, that Jesus made the noteworthy and evocative choice to be silent. After all, had he chosen to go the Nicholsonian route and said to Pilate, “You can’t handle the truth!” chances are it would have been included in the scene.
Let’s not exhibit complete disregard for facts, lazily or fearfully ignore the truth, perpetuate lies, and act with such presumption and irreverence. To commit to taking the Christ path is to take and keep a vow that we will be maladjusted to the vulgar antics, the duplicity and lack of Integrity inherent in the way of expediency, and to the infantile fear and rage of the ME, MY, MINE culture that is poisoning this country.
When I was in college I played baseball and basketball. I loved the competition. I loved to win. I hated to lose. But I cannot believe that I was somehow unique or special or remotely heroic because I would rather have lost every game I ever played than win dishonestly, with no class or dignity or, yes, Integrity. And those who played with me know that if one of my teammates shamed the rest of us by playing dirty or cheated or won unfairly—which is to say, didn’t win at all—I would have called them out. I believe my teammates would have done the same to me, called me out, if I had let them down by being so bush-league, so insecure and interiorly weak, that I had to rig the game for us to win, that I had to—in a manner of speaking—change my name to Gerry Mander so that I could use my Sharpie to redraw electoral boundaries to give me and my kind an unfair advantage as easily as one could redraw the boundaries of a hurricane’s path to suit his fragile ego or to redraw the purpose of a legislative body so that our primary task is reduced to blocking every move of the opposing party or to redraw the purpose and rules of teaching history, so that, instead of emulating the successes and learning from our mistakes we ignore, whitewash, or deny every family secret, humiliation, horse thief, love child, indignity, injustice, immorality, and crime without so much as a blush and flush of face. Let’s write the word conscience one hundred times on the front board.
Again, Integrity is not about being perfect. What’s damning about imperfection is not that it is not perfect. It’s that it is hidden—baked into a layered cake of shame. Integrity is about telling the truth, keeping the truth, and admitting when we have failed to do each. Integrity has to do with being fair, acting justly, which is hard to do if we don’t take other’s best interest into consideration, especially those who are most vulnerable, disadvantaged, marginalized, or left out of the conversation.
In the Bible, Integrity is referred to as righteousness (tsedakah), and is portrayed as being upright in all one’s dealings. Righteousness is almost indistinguishable in the Bible from justice (mishpat) which is the scriptural term for fairness. We should note, the fairness of God is not always in sync with what humans think is fair. I give you Jesus’ parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. “For your thoughts are not my thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Holy One” (Is. 55:8).
Righteousness implies benevolence, kindness, and generosity. It’s associated with a burning compassion for the oppressed.1 Integrity doesn’t demand, expect, or hinge on us agreeing with one another. It hinges on us respecting each other, reverencing others as the image of God, and doing our part to be in right relationship with oneself, others, and the Holy One who is a lover of justice and the font of righteousness. The test of genuine Integrity is whether or not we interact with and treat people and conduct ourselves the same when no one is watching as when there are witnesses to our behavior.
If this country is to survive this historical epidemic of blatant disregard for truth-telling, verifiable facts and evidence, decency and respect, if we are to be sensible and wise enough to put an end to being led around by a leash attached to rumors and gaslighting and baseless accusations and lying and whining and attacking so that we continue to be a democracy, the adults in the room need to stand up and start calling out—not denigrating or attacking—those on our own team, in our own family, political party, company, church, organization, and workplace. And it needs to be done with dignity, care, kindness, respect, courage, and yes, love—not merely for them—but for the greater good of the not so United States. It’s easy to attack opponents, especially in the cover of night or while hiding behind the cover of phone threats and pseudonyms while posting inflammatory, polarizing, baseless, vulgar comments and violent threats.
Maybe instead of forfeiting our faces, we might allow ourselves to feel a flush on our faces, a blush from our collective existential embarrassment, and then treat one another as kin with respect and integrity with an eye to what is fair, just, and true. The whole world’s watching. And that includes our children and grandchildren.⊕
1 Abraham Heschel, The Prophets, p. 256.
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