The Intimidating Power of Integrity

A teacher once wrote me about a parent with clout at her school who asked her to change attendance records to make her child’s record look better. The teacher said she thought long and hard about the request but eventually refused, knowing it would make the parent angry.

First, I commended her moral courage. I wish it didn’t take courage to do the right thing, especially in such a clear case as this, but in the real world people with power often retaliate when they don’t get what they want. This can make your life difficult.

Moral courage is the much-needed bodyguard of conscience and character. The personal costs of putting our integrity on the auction block are so high that we simply have to take the risk. Once we start on the slippery slope of moral compromise, it’s hard to resist the downward slide.

My first instinct was that the parent who subjected the teacher to this corrupt and corrupting request was a thoroughgoing villain, but I suspected she was a basically decent mom so intent on helping her child that she just ignored her moral brakes.

It’s wrong to ask someone to lie or cheat, though, and when it comes from someone with power, it’s even worse. Power is intimidating even when it’s not used.

But unswerving integrity can also be intimidating. Clearly improper requests deserve an immediate, firm, and dignified response that leaves no ambiguity that they’re inappropriate. Be careful not to be self-righteous, but let people who ask worry about what you think of them.

If they persist, let them – not you – worry about the consequences.

This is Dimeji reminding you that character counts.