Integrity, as per Wikipedia:
Integrity is 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. Integrity can be regarded as the opposite of hypocrisy,[1] in that it regards internal consistency as a virtue, and suggests that parties holding apparently conflicting values should account for the discrepancy or alter their beliefs.
The word "integrity" stems from the Latin adjective integer (whole, complete).[2] In this context, integrity is the inner sense of "wholeness" deriving from qualities such as honesty and consistency of character. As such, one may judge that others "have integrity" to the extent that they act according to the values, beliefs and principles they claim to hold.
Where I come from, integrity always meant doing the right thing; making the right decisions; being accountable for your actions. There's a USMC ideal that suggests a devildog should be able to leave his wallet sitting in the middle of his rack (bed) in the squad bay and let it sit there all day, and upon his return, find it unscathed and containing the entirety of his beer money. While I rarely tested this notion, being wary of some of the company I kept, particularly early on in my time-in-service, there was a genuine integrity throughout my time in the grunts that was evident in our everyday lives. From the physical training we conducted, to our care and maintenance for our weaponry, to the very way in which we walked, talked and looked out for one another - being a United States Marine...doing the job correctly, was about the upholding of integrity. Will someone please tell me, where in the civilian community does such true integrity exist? I would wager, few places.
My wife and her buddy took the kids to the Camden Aquarium today. It's an awesome place, so awesome that we bought an annual family pass. The aquarium is small enough not to be a logistical ordeal and the weather was sufficiently nasty today to keep the squeamish home, making it a great day to go. But we are talking about Camden, N.J. now friends - a dump among dumps, one of the most poverty-stricken cities in the U.S. Adding insult to injury, the state government decided to include in their recent budget cuts, the shit-canning of many civil servants, among them scores of cops and firefighters. So essentially what you have is the setting of the movie, Escape From NY, complete with drug dealers, thugs and panhandlers - oh, and a pretty decent-looking waterfront, featuring Adventure Aquarium and the Battleship NJ. But, you can't polish a turd - you know?
Getting to my story on integrity, or lack thereof, everyone had a blast at the aquarium and around 3pm they headed for the parking lot in hopes of beating the evening rush. But, the stinking battery was dead...click-click-click - perhaps one of the kids had pressed a light, which had been left on? So children-in-hand, they went over to a bus driver to ask for a jump start. The guy says, "can't chance it, sorry." What? Then they happened upon a maintenance man who worked at the aquarium, who ultimately helped, after making them sign a waiver. What has this world come to, if we can't help out a couple moms who clutch their children in the inclimate weather? This is the shit I'm talking about...integrity is scarce. Adding insult to injury, the predictable derelict walks over to take advantage of these ladies, "excuse me, miss...I'll just stand here (I suppose suggesting himself a non-threat), hey, my car broke down and I've been walking around in the rain for hours...I need bus fare." They give him a couple bucks. "Man...still short about four bucks." Get the $&#@ out of here dude!!! Had I been there, I might have taken all HIS money and dealt him an ass-whooping. All this summoned back to my memory a story I like to call, "83 cents" - and it's a good one:
It was a blustery Saturday night, back in 2007. We had agreed to meet another couple down at a good Mexican joint in East Norriton, PA. The place was called El Cancun, the food was great, fast and cheap - always a good combination. The only problem was, it was in a seedy shopping center located geographically, on the cusp of the haves and the have-nots. My son Samuel was mere months old, nestled in his car-seat in the back of the SUV. We spied our friends upon arrival and parked the vehicle as close as possible to the joint. We gathered our gear, covered up Sam, greeted our pals and hastily made our way to the entrance to the restaurant. The wind was whipping and damn cold, getting indoors was a priority.
As I stepped onto the curb with Sam's seat handle awkwardly positioned in the crook of my elbow, I saw a man approaching fast...there was something in his body language that indicated he intended to interact, which I thought strange, considering the weather. I thought about my son, my family, and how hungry I was for a quesadilla supreme - how completely I would destroy this person if he threatened any of these things. So now we're feet away and the previously determined-looking man changes his demeanor entirely, to one of "pity me, kind sir." He very politely asks, "excuse me sir, I hate to bother you, but...man - all I neeeed is eighty three cents." Well, what the hell does one say to that, so I dug in my pocket and pulled out a dollar. This was followed by, "may God bless you, sir...bless you." We hustle into the restaurant and sit down, a good part of our initial discussions being this bizarre encounter.
We ordered a couple appetizers and sipped a few drinks. Suddenly, Mandy turns to me and says, "shit...I forgot Sam's baby food! If he wakes up he is gonna be inconsolable, Aaron...sorry, can you go get some? I think I saw a supermarket across the way." Reluctantly, the other dude and I head out on a hunt for some baby food - perhaps a little amused by this noble mission; the novelty of being a new daddy. We see an Aldi and head over, "piece of cake," right? Yeah, well Aldi doesn't have shit! If you like boxes strewn all over the place and ZERO baby food, head to Aldi. Scarred by the experience of speed-walking up and down the aisles in this establishment, only to learn that they don't carry the stuff, suffice it to say that I don't shop there. Then, we see a Super K-Mart...and wasn't it super?! Every freak in Pennsyltucky thought it was the place to be on this particular evening, and if there was any baby food there, I couldn't stomach another minute in the place to close the deal.
Frustrated at the thought of a screaming newborn, cold food and ultimately failing in the modest task, which was our charge, we thought hard. "Wait," said Matt. "I think I saw a Shop Right a couple miles down the road." "Let's do it," I said. And behold! There it was...Shop Right, the trusty store that I grew up buying groceries at in NJ, but had seen few of in PA. We made for the entrance and knew it must be victory...and standing there at the entrance was, you guessed it, "83 cents." He peers through the cold, likely poised to spring his pitch and then he sees a familiar sight, in my accusatory gaze. Instead of the sheepish eyes and desperate plead for an odd-enough sum of money to prompt someone to round up, he looked at me, busted, and said, "hey, mannnn." As if to convey, "yeah, I scammed you, and now I'm doing the same thing to these suckers."
I wish I could say that I broke the man down shotgun style, or at least given him a verbal thrashing. But the reality was, I had a mission to complete, family and friends to rejoin, and integrity to mete out. The 'consistency of my actions' would not be in question on this day. I left this imitation bum, who was content to sell his integrity down the river $.83 at a time, out in the stinkin cold! And if he's still there, I won't lose sleep.
