How many times do we say what we mean, or even mean what we say? How much of our lives consist of doing what is important? How often do we do things that are important to us? Do we ever do things that are important to us? Are we even aware of the things that we do that are important to us?
Consider this: If you’re only doing things that are important to you, moment for moment, wouldn’t you then mean what you say and say what you mean? If you find that you don’t say what you mean or mean what you say, is it possible that you don’t do things that are important to you?
And along with “say what I mean” and “mean what I say,” we can also include “do what I say” and “say what I’ll do.”
And when we don’t “say and do” what we mean, or don’t mean what we “say and do,” do we then have integrity?
And when we are not “saying and doing” things that are important to us, do we then have integrity?
If the above is the case for you, then whose life are you living? What drives your life?
The above are tongue twisters, but when looking carefully at them, and they apply in our lives, then just maybe we aren’t living our lives with integrity.
That being the case, how many people on this Planet Earth are in this same boat of not living their integrity?
Is it any wonder, then, that we do what we do to ourselves and others, and to the planet itself? And is it any wonder that humankind is likely on a self-destructive path? Oh, and by the way, this self-destructive path starts in our own lives. So if it’s indeed the case, then isn’t each of us also likely on this path?
When reading, watching or listening to the news, it is easy to observe many examples where people display their lack of integrity. Presidents, politicians and governments declare war on other nations. Spouses abuse their partners, either physically or emotionally. Parents abuse their children, either physically or emotionally. We get robbed. Men and women and children are being raped. We dare not leave anything unattended or unlocked. Our children cannot walk
to school. We have political and business leaders who don’t practice good corporate governance or are outright corrupt. We have military and police who are corrupt or commit crimes. Adults and children starve and suffer malnutrition. There are people who have enough and even more than enough, yet there are people who do not have the essentials. Adults and children use drugs. Women get pregnant without realizing they have a guidance and caretaking responsibility toward their children. We ruin our environment; we strip it bare to appease our greed.
The system we created and feed every single day serves nobody. Some people cope and others don’t cope within this skewed system. Those who cannot cope are left out to dry. Nobody seems aware that the beggars and homeless and criminals are merely people who didn’t cope in the system we all created and continuously feed. Likely, this is because nobody seems to question the system. Those who have achieved within the system frown upon those that don’t cope, and blame them for not coping. They even look upon those who don’t cope as weaklings.
That we’re oblivious to the system we’re an integral part of doesn’t serve anyone. We are oblivious to the knowledge that we have a say in the system. Those who have “made it” won’t stop for a moment to say, “Hey, let’s fix the system so that everyone can have a fair chance with their lives.”
But that’s just as well, because one person can’t make it right for another person. It is best for each of us to see our ways, and then adjust things for ourselves. Over time, as we adjust our lives, those around us stand a better chance, and perhaps a million years of one individual at a time making their own adjustment will enable each person to walk over the line to live their integrity.
But while we live without our integrity, the things that happen around us, and sometimes to us, will continue until we self-destruct—all because we almost certainly lack integrity.
