https://www.rootsofaction.com/integrity/
I belong to a high school alumni group with about 136 people and something happened lately regarding funds/ dues people paid for the upkeep of the alumni group. I would expect that within this small community, we would be able to hold ourselves to a certain standard of honesty, accountability and integrity as we may not be able to change the world, but we can certainly change what happens within our own little corner.
However, the event made me realise people cared less about integrity and more about their pride. Some of the excos claimed they were not aware, some lied to cover others and some just justified their action of lending money to someone and focused on the money being complete or not. When this topic was discussed, they missed the whole point which isn’t about whether the money is missing or whether the money has been replaced. It is about the fact that lending money out without permission or knowledge of members shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
Even if some of them genuinely didn’t know about it and things happened without their knowledge, once it was brought to their attention openly, I would expect the response to be simple: acknowledge it, accept that it was wrong, apologise, and take steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Instead, they seemed to have reached a point where the response is almost, “So what? Is anything missing?”
And honestly, that was concerning to me.
It seemed as though we had somehow replaced basic standards of integrity and accountability with emotional guilt-tripping, defensiveness and arguments about whether the outcome was ultimately harmful. But it is not about forgiveness. It is not about witch-hunting anyone. It is not even about who is right or wrong. It is simply about doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.
If the committed act was wrong, acknowledge that it was wrong. If a mistake was made, own it. If an explanation is required, give it. And if an apology is warranted, apologise. That should not be such a difficult standard to uphold especially from leaders of s small group.
We cannot demand integrity from leaders, organisations, governments or institutions if we are unwilling to practise it ourselves in a small group. The Change we all seek as a nation starts from within. Sometimes, it starts with a small group of people deciding that this is the standard they hold themselves to and be role models for others snd the younger generation.
