Integrity - The Failure of My Generation?

Alright, enough silliness. This blog needs to take a serious turn for at least one post, so let's get to it.

Integrity. Something we might not think about a lot, but something that greatly impacts our day to day living, whether we like it or not. Personally, I didn't think about it that much, but in the past few years the importance of living with integrity has been a bigger theme. It's something I have noticed more and more in those around me, and something I have come to realize is very important. Sadly, I think my generation in general has a disregard for integrity, and doesn't appear to think it has any value. Even more sad is that I have seen this both in my non-Christian and Christian friends. So, a few stories and why I think they matter. Then we can let the discush begin in the comment section; I'm eager to hear your thoughts.

Another track story: my track coach here at Wheaton came to practice one day, and you could tell something just wasn't right. Coach has a way of giving non-verbal hints, maybe it's just that we got to where we could read him well. Regardless, after warm-up and stretching, Coach pulled us in, and you could just tell we were gonna get a talking to, it was in his eyes and his tone of voice. Coach proceeds to give us a speech about the importance of integrity, how if we say we're going to do something we need to follow through with it. There was fire in his voice, you tell he was upset about something. Now, Coach didn't tell us what it was specifically, but I heard (and partially insinuated) through the grapevine that this incident came as a result of a recruit telling coach they were coming to Wheaton and then going back on that commitment. Now, if you know coach, you know he really doesn't get mad that often and he even when he does he doesn't do it like most people. But let me tell you, the man was mad about this, spittin mad.

So, was coach right to be angry about it? I think so, and to be honest, I'll never forget that speech, because it made me really think about integrity and what it means to live with it. There are tough decisions in life, one of them of course is choosing what school you will attend for your college education. The principle is good though - if you give your word to something, it had better be because you've thought it through and at least considered that you might be faced with a tough decision that might make you reconsider.

I think this may be the reason many of us struggle with integrity (and if I haven't said so already, I too make mistakes with my integrity, and by no means am I claiming perfection in this blog post). It is hard, because we're often faced to make the difficult and uncomfortable choice instead of the easy and comfortable one. This idea just runs in the face of everything our society tells us is right. We need to be nice, need to be polite, need not to step on anyone's toes or offend anyone. And those are all good things! But not at the cost of us being true to our word, because when we aren't, we're being rude, impolite, stepping on toes and offending other people.

Another huge issue of integrity is the Community Covenant at Wheaton, formerly known as the pledge. It is a complete mystery to me how so many students get to the end of their career and admit they have never read the Community Covenant or openly confess that they have no problem breaking it on a regular basis by drinking. Now, please understand, I'm not a person who hates people who drink; I love, I mean LOVE, a good dark rum, a well brewed beer, and the like. My problem isn't with people drinking, it's with people who say they want to be a part of a community that has agreed to abstain from that during their college years (4 years of your life...seriously, not that long) but then completely go back on that word. They check the box that says, "I agree to this Community Covenant" EVERY semester they register for classes. I don't get it, and I think it's a real issue for our generation.

The heart of it, I think, is really selfishness. In the case of this recruit that backed out on coach, they decided that they didn't think it was a good idea to come to Wheaton in the end, even though coach explained clearly to them the ramifications of them making this commitment. The people who willingly break the Covenant at Wheaton do so because they think that some parts of it are ridiculous. And, to make an attempt at being vulnerable, I am often tempted to go back on a commitment because I think something is hard, or have second thoughts about things.

So what's the cure to this problem? I think that my generation needs to take a harder look at the commitments we make, considering the witness that it has to the world when we go back on them and lack integrity as many do. I think it's funny that in our society we have cliches like the used car salesman and the corporate CEO who we despise because they lack integrity and honesty, when really most of us are no different from them. Our decisions just affect less people (or at least that's what we tell ourselves) so somehow that's ok. I think that a big part of our witness to the world is having the guts to make commitments and stick with them.

In that vein, let me close with another story. My grandfather Alfred Means is a great example of this kind of witness. You talk about integrity - the man has lost literally thousands of dollars because he did not want to go back on his word. People have cheated him, but that hasn't shaken his character, he refused to sink to their level. And I tell you this, people trust him and will do business with him because of this reputation. The greatest part of it all is that if you asked him about it, he wouldn't talk about it like it was him. He'd point to the cross, and tell you about the presence of Jesus Christ in his life has transformed it. My hope is that I and the rest of my generation can look at men like Papaw and be challenged to live with integrity, using it as an opportunity to bear witness to Christ.