Why Integrity Still Matters

Forging Integrity One Man at A Time

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

What’s Integrity, and Where Has It Gone?

“If it is not right, do not do it. If it is not true, do not say it.” —Marcus Aurelius

The above quote proves that sometimes, the most obvious thing can also be the most difficult thing. Few of us live up to Marcus Aurelius’s simple ideal completely. We’ve all said or done things we knew we wouldn’t follow through on because we wanted to keep the peace or to people-please. We’ve all done wrong things, no matter how minor they might have been, and we’ve all said things that weren’t true, no matter how white the lie. Integrity tends to be incomplete in the best of us. Even if we are doing our best, we can usually do better.

Many men’s groups are big on living with integrity. But why do they emphasize this to the degree they do? The goal of these groups is usually to live more honestly and genuinely. But honesty too often clashes with societal norms. Conformity feels safer even when it costs us our authenticity, and expo…