Integrity

How would you like to have something like this said about you? The quote below was written by a friend and fellow officer of the Kansas Highway Patrol about one of our members who passed away recently. He had a career in the Highway Patrol and retired as a Major.

“Your integrity was never questioned as a member of the Kansas Highway Patrol nor has ever been surpassed. It was an honor to work under your command.”

Integrity can be defined as a “concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one’s actions.”

Are you a person of integrity? Do you even think of that concept in your daily life and living? On a scale of 1 to 10, how would someone else rate the measure of integrity that they see in you?

To be a person of integrity requires hard work, diligent decision-making, honest debate within oneself, and the willingness to do the right thing even when there is a cost. A person of true integrity will lay it all on the line...job, status, wealth...it doesn't matter...in order to make the consistently honest and truthful decisions that equate with the values and principles one espouses.

So, where does true integrity come from? What makes a person sacrifice wealth, power, and status to maintain his or her integrity? What is it that causes someone to lay it all on the line in order to do right?

There is a spiritual aspect at work here. There is a spiritual transformation that must take place in the heart and mind of the individual in order for integrity to be a normal part of that person's life. For, you see, the norm for a human being is to shun integrity and embrace greed....shun integrity and embrace the more base elements of life. It takes a transformation to embrace the good over the base. And that transformation can best be described as spiritual in nature.

Integrity. Will you be known as a person of integrity when you are no longer alive? Will you be known as one who rose above the human norm and embraced the good, the noble, and the right?

Can't Is For Losers

So far, all I hear from our congressional representation regarding violence is what we can't do. Can't do is for losers. So far, as much as I know now, Rep. Estes, Sen. Moran, and Sen. Roberts are losers. Tell me what we can do. What is the plan? Do we wait for the next one, then offer "thoughts and prayers" again? Is that the plan?
I am not a gun control freak. It isn't about gun control. It's about the moral fiber and fabric of the nation. Government can't mandate morality; there will always be those who prefer immorality and amorality. Government can, however, enhance and encourage moral behavior...and should do so.
Moral behavior has many aspects. Adequate mental health care, positive examples of moral behavior from our leaders, encouraging the proper functioning of the foundation of society...the family unit, and positive educational opportunities all are part of moral behavior. Encouraging those who work the front lines...non-profits, churches, volunteers, foundations, endowments...should be part of the solution.
And don't get me started on "Whose morality are we going to encourage?" or "You can't legislate morality." Those are cop-outs for losers that are designed to deflect and confuse. We encourage the morality agreed-upon by the majority. We legislate morality all day, every day. That is the system we have operated under since 1789. It must be a pretty good one to last this long.

A Morning Observataion

We are having the interior of our home painted this week.  They are working in the kitchen/dining area, and have things torn up and covered up, so it’s difficult to use the kitchen for its intended purpose.  Since I get the feeling from time to time that I need some kind of sustenance, a good alternative is to find a restaurant and patronize it.  I did that this morning for breakfast.

There are many places that serve breakfast; however, I chose an old stand-by…the Town and Country Restaurant on West Kellogg near I-235.  The restaurant has been there for years, going back to the time when there was a Town and Country Motel associated with it just behind the restaurant.  In fact, the waiting area in the east end of the restaurant used to be the lobby for the motel.  I used to stay at the motel from time to time and eat at the restaurant back in the early 1970’s when I worked for a company that occupied the 4800 W Kellogg building, now vacant.

As a single this morning, I chose to sit at the counter.  It wasn’t busy, and there were plenty of chairs to choose from.  I took one on the end and was immediately approached by the waitress.  I knew what I wanted, and told her, “Bacon and two over medium, hash browns, wheat toast, decaf…black.”

We’ve eaten there many times in the past.  Usually, we would be seated in the dining room.  Once in a while, I am by myself, and if so, I like to sit at the counter.  I was thinking this morning as I observed the interactions of the wait staff, and could see into the kitchen area and hear some of what was going on there that it’s a totally different environment in the counter area than it is in the dining room.  Same building…about 20 feet separating the two…but an altogether different feel and dynamic in the air.

There was nothing particularly good or bad about either environment…just markedly different.  And that got me to thinking about how we carry around our own environments; and in so doing, we influence the environment around us.  We often color the environment that we walk into by how we are feeling, behaving, and thinking.

Have you ever known someone who could just light up a room by coming into the room?  Have you ever known someone you just didn’t like to be around because they were always pessimistic and down?  Have you ever been in a room, and suddenly it seemed that a tornado had come upon you because someone came into the area?  If so, you know what I mean when I say that we carry around our own environments and influence the environments of others.

We need to be aware of the environment we carry around, and how we influence those environments in which we live.  Without realizing it, we can sour an environment to the point that others do everything they can to avoid us.  Or we can overwhelm an environment to the point that we dominate in ways that are unproductive and selfish.

There is a middle ground here.  Sometimes, given our makeup and upbringing, it is difficult to even see the need for change, let alone know and understand that “middle ground” where we probably need to be more often than we are.  And that opens up the point that we may well need to take cues from others who we know and trust to help us.  Constructive counsel may be just what we need.  And we need to be unafraid to hear it and heed it.

Oh, by the way, the total bill was $6.64.  With a $2 tip, it still was a bargain, and decent food to boot.  Try the T & C some time if you’re in the area, and if you like good, basic meals that don’t cost an arm and a leg.