"integrity"

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Is anyone as tired as I am of individuals or institutions who/that ask me to credit their integrity and yet cannot exercise the honesty that is integral to integrity? Politicians, governments, oil companies, banks, spiritual exponents ... pick your fave. The list goes on and on and no doubt I can be counted on that list.

An internet dictionary defines "integrity" in part as:

-- the quality of always behaving according to the moral principles that you believe in, so that people respect and trust you

-- the quality of behaving according to the rules and standards of your job or profession

-- the quality of being complete or whole, without any missing parts

 So it seems that integrity relies on what others say or believe about you or what you say or believe about yourself or, as a best-case scenario, acting honestly without regard to the accolades or catcalls of others.

But in the saying or believing department, it seems that the more anyone relies on the good will of others, the more likely it is that the Spin Doctor will go to work ... making effort after effort, issuing petition after petition, to get others to say or believe that, yes, you are a person of integrity. And that very effort eviscerates whatever honest meaning "integrity" might have.

There is something to be said for being "whole," as the dictionary puts it.

Just noodling.
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