Guest Post: Integrity
Posted by auroracitizen on October 26, 2010
The events and news of the past week in Aurora have made me reflect on “integrity”. It seems that the word is bantered around at every corner. Integrity has become a political catchphrase and in Aurora its been battered and bruised. Are we are too liberal with the use of the word? Do we need to be more reserved so that it still holds it value? Perhaps we need to review “integrity”, its meaning, its origins in ourselves, our children, our friends and our neighbours.”.
Here are my thoughts:
Having and maintaining integrity is hard work. It’s not something to be taken lightly. It’s not something that parents pass on like a family heirloom. It is developed and nutured in our children by leading them through examples. It is not automatically received by job title or promotion or family tree.
It’s what perhaps our best teachers, most memorable coaches, favourite family friends helped demonstrate to us growing up. It’s not something that we can self-prescribe to ourselves. It is something that must be earned and demonstrated from our interactions with our family, friends, co-workers and community. It’s something we may all struggle with at times to know what’s right and to do what’s right at the right time.
It’s treating people fairly – all people whether you’ve known them all your life or your just met them yesterday. It’s being fair, even if at that moment being fair is not to your advantage. It’s saying what you’ll do and following through by doing what you say.
You can’t display integrity some days and not others. By its definition it requires consistency. You either have it or you don’t – it’s not half way. At times you may lose your integrity, but perhaps you can regain it. It may be having the humility to admit that you have made a mistake (and we all have made mistakes) and correcting the wrong. It’s about how you handle yourself during the time when you need to right your wrongs and learn from your mistakes.
In going forward, perhaps we need to reserve the use of the word so that it retains its value and meaning. Aurora’s next mayor and town council will have a challenge of leading by example and being measured by their integrity. They may be choosing to do so without an appointed referee. Best of success to them all!
Paul
Aurora Citizen 
Happiness said
Now that a small part of our history is behind us, let us all remember that each one is responsible for his or her own actions. We should not seek to blame others.
Those who act in a responsible fashion will be rewarded by receiving the trust of others; those who don’t will not.
Responsibility and trust result from truth. It is the truth that we must confront within ourselves and the truth that we must practice in our relationships with others that form the essence of our being.
We must never fear those who do not tell the truth, for they will ultimately be vanquished. We should always support those who are truthful, even when they might stumble a bit as they seek the way.