The Truth: The Only Thing You’ll Ever Own

A reputation, said a wise man, is the only thing you’ll ever own.

And a reputation is built on something called integrity, which is a love of truth. Integrity is one of those things that our parents teach us about early in life. It’s a fundamental value most people hold onto from their earliest years and up until we die or get elected to Congress.

These days, however, integrity seems to be kind of optional. Or perhaps more accurately, integrity seems to be something to switch on and off, as needed.

“I expect my political leaders to be honest and forthright,” is a sentiment most of us can agree on, right? At least, until the political leaders from our party are caught lying in no uncertain terms. As in, saying one thing, and there is audio, visual, and witness evidence proving she or he has lied. Once upon a time, that would be a political death knell.

Today, we just flip the integrity switch to “off” for a bit. We assume that the gal or fella meant well enough, so bold-faced lies can be overlooked. The reputation, in this case, is protected by simply giving the lie a pass. At least, until someone we don’t like so much does it.

Then flip that switch to “on,” pronto! And give ‘em heck.

Like many fathers, Pop was big on integrity. He didn’t have one of those switches. Actually, the only integrity switch he had looked more like this:

These are for whipping horses or kids. And we didn’t have any horses.

Of course, I’m kidding. Pop would never use a horse whip on his kids if he caught us lying. Not when mother nature provides organic switches for free.

But that was another era. Fortunately for me, I learned the real meaning of “integrity” and never had to get whipped like that.

I learned to not get caught. I hope I can count on your support this November.