Integrity

I am currently taking a course in college toward my BAAS degree. It is one of those impersonal on line courses that everyone has to take these days. God, I hate computers sometimes. Is there a real human being that I can talk to out there for Christ sake? Anyway that is a different rant for a different day. This was the assignment for the mandatory discussion board. My response was much cleaner and shorter so I decided to use this blog to say how I really feel. So here goes.

Read the ethical dilemma on pg. 510. Is it unethical to lie, deceive, or collude during negotiations?

WOW!

I just simply do not understand this ideological digression into which our society has let itself fall! I am sorry (not really), but I am going to have to rant just a bit here!
I believe that we should go back to the roots of what everyone thought how it used to be when a man's word was his bond and a hand shake sealed the deal. I have said this before, and I'll say it again. If you do not have your integrity, how can you ever be trusted? Lies, even the small ones, have the distinct ability to sneak up and bite you in the ass at the most inopportune times if you flirt with them long enough. It's likened to the Dark Side of the Force. (Which, by the way, just goes to show how much of a nerd I really am) Like Yoda said, "Once down the Dark Side you start, forever will it dominate your destiny." Once you start lying, being dishonest, being unethical, being a cheat, being a manipulator, it is a road that leads to misery and will ever consume you. Sooner or later it will catch up to you. I have got one chance to make it. I am, at least going to do it with dignity and integrity! I prefer the diplomatic approach. Be nice! If everyone were, the world would need a lot less negotiations. Which, of course, means we would probably need less politicians. Oh God! The euphoria! My father, the noble, wise man that he was, always taught me to be honest in each of my endeavors. He also passed down to me a code of ethics that I want to believe to which people used to endeavor to aspire. Now, we as a people have become a society of sniveling, conniving, self-centered, egotistical, self-righteous, self-seeking, disrespectful, unethical megalomaniacs infected with the sickness of greed.

I am absolutely astonished that people think that it is okay to lie, cheat, and steal to get to the top, or anywhere, for that matter. The Bible says that if you have not love you have nothing. I agree with that wholeheartedly. However, if you don't have integrity, you don't have much either.

Of course, this is just my point of view ;-)