What Ever Happened To Integrity?

I haven’t kept up on the scandal surrounding the media outlet News Corporation and their hacking of voice mail accounts, but I did see a report on Yahoo! today about the owner of the company, Rupert Murdoch and his son James giving testimony before Parliament. But here is something that did jump out at me as I read the article:

“When asked flat out if he (Rupert Murdoch) considered himself personally responsible "for this fiasco," Murdoch replied simply: "No."

Asked who was, he said: "The people that I trusted to run it (News Corporation), and then maybe the people they trusted."

Rupert Murdoch is eighty years old. He owns the company, while the article states his son James is the heir apparent. What I found interesting is that the father just bailed on his responsibility. Ultimately, if you own the business and there is a problem, then you are to blame. Maybe he’s not the one who actually ordered the voice mail accounts to be hacked, but as the owner of the company he should stand up, take his licks and assume the responsibility. Then he should find out who gave the order and turn them over to the police.

What I saw as I read that article is one more time that integrity was not to be found. Is it any wonder that so many people are cynical about news media and all of their various outlets? The funny thing is that had this man stood up and claimed responsibility for his business, people all across the world would be applauding him for his integrity. What bothers me even more is the fact that this man is eighty. He is supposed to be from the era where integrity was king. Yet, he passes the buck as quick as it was handed to him.

We should own up to who we are, and not try to skirt the issues. Yeah, it’s tough, but since when did doing the right thing ever prove to be the easy thing? Integrity is the issue here. What this world needs are more people who are willing to do the right thing regardless of the consequences. I cannot think that Mr. Murdoch was thinking of anything other than his bottom line while he was passing the buck to those beneath him.

Seems I read about that in the Bible one time, yeah in the book of Genesis. God asked Adam what he had done, and Adam blamed Eve, Eve turned around and blamed the snake. And if they had only owned up to their responsibilities, God would have made a way to have fixed it where they could have stayed in paradise. But because of their unwillingness to take ownership of the problem, look where we are today.

Let’s be people of integrity. Let’s show that integrity to our families, friends and those around us. Don’t ever let people wonder what you would do in a tough situation, let them know. I’d love it if whenever I’m in a tight spot, the people around me would say to each other, “I know that David will do the right thing, after all he is a man of integrity.” Oh how I hope that is what they would say.