This essay written by Srividya S of Kola Saraswathi Vaishnaw Senior Secondary School, Kilpak, Chennai won the First Prize under School category in the Online Essay Contest conducted by www.siv-g.org in association with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial Trust and Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan, Chennai Kendra as part of Birthday Celebration of Sardar Patel.
Integrity ? Does this word exist in the 21st century English dictionary or has it been forgotten and discarded.
Yes, integrity has taken a backseat in this commercial and materialistic world.
It is really a difficult word to define in todays context. In short integrity includes:- Honesty, Sincerity, Truthfulness etc. Integrity in public life requires perfect coordination, synchoranisation in thoughts, action and deeds. The values one believes, should be the same as one’s practices. Today everybody wants to accumulate Wealth, Human wants are galloping in geomatric progression. Greed is the order of the day. Public Life is filled with Private wants, desire. People in power want more power. They are power crazy. Power corrupts – obsolute Power Corrupts obsultely. Very few people in public life are honest. According to me Men & Women in public life should follow the below principles :- Integrity : Ethics, fairness in all their dealings.
Selfless – People in public life should take decisions solely on merit & public interest. Getting material benefits for themselves should be totally avoided.
Accountability – They should voluntarily submit themselves scrutiny.
Fairness, Openness – All decisions should be fair and open and transparent
Honesty –. The common man places considerable priority on “Honesty” in its widest sense as an expected behaviour by public-office holders,
Conflicting interest in any dealings should publicly stated.All decisions made by people in public life should be for the common good of the citizens. Individual enrichment is unjustified. “Integrity in Public Life” , is a lifelong threefold commitment to reflecting deeply on the following :-
• what is right
• Acting on what we have discerned
• Ethical values to be followed even at personal cost and inconvenience,
• Standing up publicly to moral values.
What then is required of us as we move from private life into the arena of public leadership? A cynic might say there is no room for ethics in politics. For some, this maybe an excuse. But I am not a cynic. I say that, in fact, the demands of integrity in public life are no less than those that you and I may face not that these are ever easy, but public life demands far, far more. Integrity for you and me means voting, writing, taking a public stance, maybe organizing, even changing the way we live. For the politician it means all this and more. For the politician it also means being successful and powerful But when we speak of political leadership, We're talking about responsibility for results, responsibility to God, to our ultimate values, and also to the state and its citizens. Talking about honest, integrity in public life, we in India look back to the period of our struggle for independence, After independence, the whole world thought that Our country would disintegrate and be divided into many small independent states. At that time “the Iron Man of India” Mr. Sardar Patel – played a key role in integration of the nation. A selfless man whose only aim was public good and public welfare. Integrity in Public Life also means
• Steadfast adherence to
• a strict Moral Code
• Steadfast adherence to a strict Ethical Code
• Quality of being perfect and pure.
Integrity also means
• Honesty
• Uprightness
• Purity
• Probity
• Sincerity
• Decency
And there's also one other thing something desirable for all of us, but altogether critical in public life: “Humility” I can't be serious, you may think. A politician humble? But I mean by that more than being humble. I mean being driven by something more than ego, more than power. I mean a respect for people, caring about our common life, and recognizing that all of us have something to contribute. Success in public life demands results, and results demand that we carry the public with us, recognize that we lead not just a faction or party but a city, state, or nation. It demands respect for those we disagree with not just for their voting power, but for the possibility that they might, at least in part, be right. It demands a willingness to listen, and sometimes to let go of our preconceived ideas, and hardest of all to look beyond the immediate demands of our constituencies and take a longer, wider view. Thus humility can mean such love for the larger community that we are ready to take the risk of losing office. With either system, those eventually elected to office face decisions that, for a person of integrity and conviction, can be excruciating. You have an unlimited reserve of ethical principle, but only a limited stock of political chips. What do you do when you are John Kennedy, and you want civil rights but depend on conservative southern whites for your support? That's another way of saying that it isn't enough, if we're to live with integrity, to be faithful to just one principle in life. The most difficult decisions in life arise when our principles conflict even such broad principles as justice and mercy. There also are conflicts within a single principle, such as the sanctity of human life. Whose lives count the most ?
• The lives of American soldiers versus Iraqi Personnel
• Lives of Poor or those of Rich & powerrful
• Lives of Politicians or the common man
All living creatures should peacefully co-exist. We humans beings must compromise on what shall belong to whom. We should let everbody lead and live a honorable life.
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