Our country has been talking about deflated balls for six months with the goal of trying to find out who did it. We are no further in discovering the great mystery of the loss of regulated pressure but we have discovered a great loss in the standard pressure of integrity.
The way I have grown to understand integrity is simple, who you are when no one is looking is the same in public, no secrets. It’s not that integrity demands we tell everyone everything but we are completely honest about who we really are, even our flaws. This “Deflate-gate” saga is less about balls and more about who is more committed to being right than being honest. It makes me ask myself how far will I go to protect the perception of me being right than revealing that I am not. Why do we resist? Where is the pressure to have integrity?
I would suggest that integrity is deflated when we inflate other values. We have commitments we are unwilling to break and therefore deflate the others values that are less important to us. What do you hold as more important than integrity? What are you defiantly committed to? Allow me suggest a few examples.
“Committed to being [or feeling] right” – This where a person decides that to face being wrong they will pour inexhaustible energy in finding any part of being right. In other words, they are never wrong. Even in the face of being found wrong they will find some “rightness” to their efforts and justify their posture.
“Committed to looking right” – This is when a person who knows they are wrong but is unwilling to allow people to see them as such. They will then spin everything to make themselves look right no matter the inner cost of violating personal integrity.
“Committed to taking no responsibility” – This is when a person has decided that no matter their choices in life they will not and cannot take any responsibility for those choices. They posture themselves as victims and refuse to look at themselves with courage.
All of us have commitments we place on the thrones of our lives that we worship and defend. What are you committed to?
Troy A Murphy 