Morality, honor, integrity — these words are thrown about by pundits, politicians, preachers and ordinary folk alike. We decry the lack of such in our leaders, political and otherwise.
But most of us are adept at finding that lack in others, but not so good at looking at our own morality, or lack thereof. What, exactly, is morality?
According to the dictionary, morality can be defined as: belief about what is right behavior and what is wrong behavior, the degree to which something is right and good : the moral goodness or badness of something. A person of honor is seen as: men and women of high moral worth or great achievement.
In 1955, songwriter Sy Miller wrote the classic message of hope in the lyrics of a song. Entitled Let There Be Peace on Earth, and Let It Begin with Me, the idea was expressed that peace would come when each individual took it upon him or herself to begin the process of bringing that peace to the world. Peace would not come by being imposed from the top down, but effected by a great groundswell from the bottom up to encompass the world. Perhaps that is a little bit too optimistic for today’s world, but we get the idea.
The same could be said for morality and honor. Do we want a society that is moral and honorable? Do we wish our leaders in government and all walks of life to be those who seek after what is right and good? Perhaps that song of hope could be adapted to say simply, “Let there be a moral and honorable world, and let it begin with me”!
So, you ask, how would that work? Where is the standard by which we can determine what is moral and honorable? We live in a land created by men and women who had a faith that was rooted in Christianity and the Christian’s Bible. From early times we referred to America as the “New World,” as apart from the “Old World.” Much of this was because of the perceived decadence of Western Europe, from which most came. And from the Bible those pioneers followed, we can find what morality, honor and integrity look like.
First, the person who exhibits true morality must not look down on others. Jesus’ story of the Pharisee and the publican (tax collector) illustrates this. The only one justified was not the one who bragged about his fidelity to the intricacies of the law (the Pharisee), but the one who simply asked God to “be merciful to me, a sinner” (the publican). This humility is the mark of one who has come close to the moral and ethical standards God wishes for people. The 19th Century evangelist, Dwight Moody put it very simply. As he witnessed a bum in the gutter, he said, “There, but for the grace of God, go I”.
Another feature of true morality is the constant attempt to always do what is right. Every day we are faced with a myriad number of decisions we must make. Some are small and almost insignificant, others are of more import. Many times we dismiss the small slips from moral action, like the proverbial “little white lie” or not telling the cashier who inadvertently gives us back too much change for a purchase. But morality demands we keep our standards intact in little things as well as the big ones. It is a daily struggle, and even Paul admitted to such when he wrote, “For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.”
In business, morality is seen in how customers are treated. Solomon wrote in Proverbs, “Dishonest scales are abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight.”
Often profit drives out true ethical behavior in the marketplace. Many years ago, I knew of a businessman in a small city who was a regular churchgoer. He would sit in the same pew, year after year, singing gustily the songs of praise and worship. Yet in his business, he would not treat his employees with equity, would make sure in any transaction, either by himself or his workers, that he got more than his fair share. He also was known to publicly berate members of his family who also worked at the enterprise. This is akin to what Jesus said about the religious leaders of his time, that they kept the letter of the law but were inwardly “full of dead men’s bones”. It should not be. Years ago the motto of business could be, “A man’s word is his bond.” Now dealings are best done with a written contract, and the warning, “caveat emptor”, or “let the buyer beware!”
In our daily contact with others outside the family, how do we present ourselves? Most of the time we are showing a public face, as in a play on stage. What goes on behind closed doors is sometimes not very pretty. In a perfect world what we see should be is what we get. We should strive to be as honest, honorable and moral in private as we show ourselves to be to the world. It is difficult to do, for we are prone to show our private selves to those who are closest to us, our family. In so doing, we inflict upon them our pettiness, our faults, our lapses into selfish behavior.
Speech is one area in which Americans have lapsed into the profane and obscene on a regular basis. We are told in Scripture that our words should be “seasoned with salt,” as we consider the words we say. James wrote that the tongue is a “raging fire,” causing all sorts of problems. Few motion pictures are without language considered improper just a short generation ago. In everyday conservation, we hear profanity and obscenity on a regular basis. It is only a small minority who endeavor to always speak with measured words, free of that which would offend. Perhaps we need to listen to that pundit of old who claimed, “I always keep my words soft and sweet, for I never know which ones I’ll have to eat!”
Politics is a prime example of the lack of honor and integrity. One famous politician of the nineteenth century famously said, “I would rather be right than be President.” Nowadays this is turned on its head as most would claim, “I would rather be President than be right.” In last year’s Presidential election, both major parties made obviously spurious claims about their opponents. On one side, a bitter primary battle turned otherwise normal politicians into attack dogs, criticizing each other’s honesty, credibility and even physical looks in an effort to be elected. Any dirt on their opponent was fair game as some characterized the election as the most ugly of any in our history (though that might be disputed by any good historian!) Perhaps we need a Diogenese for the political scene, going about with his lantern, searching for an honest man.
Racism or any attitude toward a group that can be considered “other” by us is not indicative of moral behavior. Many of us learned early the children’s song, Jesus loves the Little Children, and the line that we should remember is “Red and yellow, black and white, are all precious in His sight.” Moral people are color blind when it comes to their fellowman. We need to keep to some of these long ago teachings.
We are not perfect. In one sense, even the best of us are works in progress. It is a constant and daily struggle for us to keep our moral compasses intact. But being a moral person is worth the effort. When we fail, it should not be accompanied with a shrug of the shoulders and a quick, “After all, I’m human.” Our failures should be a wake-up call to make more effort to remain on the straight and narrow.
One last observation on the above. Where have we lost the sense of shame when we fall short of God’s glory and our own expectation of moral living? If we would regain this, we would have no worry as to our living up to our spiritual potential, and we would have an impact on others who would see our ethical lives, our honorable bearing and our moral attitudes.
Do we want a more ethical, moral and honorable world? Then let it begin with me.