The Restless Night: Searching for Integrity in a Divided Nation

A Wizened Patient’s Advice: Why Honesty Means Never Having to Worry

Honesty and Integrity

I had a restless night, waking and thinking. I watched the evening news and saw so-called leaders distort honesty, abandon objectivity, and forget what integrity means.

I observed the ensuing transgressions— a mass shooting, an unprovoked home invasion, more erosion of human and civil rights, detention, distortion, disagreement, diabolical deviations. What’s next? Another attack on the Capitol?

I thought of the working man’s philosopher, Eric Hoffer, who embraced an apolitical philosophy of common-sense values for everyday life. He emphasized fundamental truths that humans need to survive and thrive. My Dad loved Hoffer. I understood why.

Eric Hoffer

Hoffer was a self-educated, working-class longshoreman who championed individual responsibility, disdained elitist intellectuals, and wrote in a direct, no-nonsense style about society, capturing the authentic voice and experiences of ordinary people.

Here’s a Hoffer quote: You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.

I thought of a wizened patient of mine.

“Doc, if someone tells the truth, they need never worry. But lie, do the wrong thing . . . worry.” The man exemplified honesty and integrity effortlessly. Why are we losing those admirable traits in our great country? What changed? What are we forgetting?

Honesty and integrity are attributes to live by, especially for our leaders during trying times. Honesty is more than just not lying. It speaks the truth. It shouldn’t be difficult. It means your actions, with an emphasis on your own, are honest, truthful, and transparent.

It means declaring how something happened, based on facts. Sure, at times, it can be considered a complex skill because one must cultivate the habit. But it can’t be that complex. Why is adhering to facts so difficult to understand?

Furthermore, honesty means you don’t say things about people that are not true, you don’t generate rumors, and you admit to your actions.

Integrity requires more thinking and effort. It is not only the need to be honest but also to adhere to moral and ethical guidelines despite personal interests or outside pressure. Ponder the power of integrity . . . upholding personal and professional standards while maintaining sound judgment and NOT yielding to pressure. Or imbuing personal gain.

“Integrity,” said author C.S. Lewis, “is doing the right thing, even when no one is looking.” Integrity is the bedrock upon which good character is built. And where there is integrity, humility follows.

It is difficult for me to watch the news and the politicians, without the words honesty and integrity popping into my mind. They either avoid the question, make up an answer, or flat-out lie.

I was never taught those warped values and, if I showed any lack thereof, I paid the consequences.

The once gradual erosion of integrity now seems to be on a fast track.

Today, there is no consequence for dishonesty. No repercussions.

I guess these traits are no longer necessary for success.

No, no, I don’t believe that!

Do the right thing. Be honest. Adhere to the facts. We need our leaders to do so, especially now when we are so divided as a nation. Rather than the negative energy involved in pointing fingers, would it not be so much better to direct our energies to the truth?

“We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves,” said Hoffer.

Hoffer argued that leaders who lose their grip on simple truths often do so because they have become “true believers” in their own power or ideology, which allows them to justify the erosion of rights.

Embrace honesty. Embrace integrity. If so, you need not worry.

A decent culture demands it.

What would you add?

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