Ethics and Integrity.....

Ethics and integrity - two simple words in our English language but both have such powerful meanings. At my work - there are posters reminding everyone of the the company's values "integrity, excellance and respect." When you first hired here - you are required to go to an "Ethics In the Workplace" class and sign off on a certificate that you fully understood what this meant. There are special hotline numbers to call should you find someone acting unethically to report anonymously. I imagine it takes a lot for someone to call the hotline because although you *hope* that is it anonymous - you actually never know. And what if you think something is unethical and the party you reported does not? For instance - is it ok to take a pen from work? Well, if that is ok - is it ok to take a ream of paper? What about the whole box of paper? Is it ok to divulge company secrets? The last one is pretty obvious that it is not ethicial but the first ones hit those "gray" areas even though the answer is no it is not ethical to do.

We live in a society that is so busy that often people do not have time to deal with the minute things in life. Tell me if you got a call that someone took a pen from the office - would you send out the calvery to arrest that person? Or just take note of it and move on to bigger stuff? And if you are the one who is accused of this - do you rat out everyone around you? Or do you stick to the situation at hand and only accept responsibility for your own actions? I believe that people's ethics and their definition of it changes depending on the situation and sadly, if they will be caught.

I have always tried to be honest and forthright about things in life - I am not perfect, far from it, nor do I ever expect people to be perfect either. We are human and well, as humans, we stray and succomb to things that well we probably shouldn't have. It's called "free will" or the ability to make choices freely. I have learned so much about these two words in the last few days and their importance or unimportance. I am hoping that those who know me - really know me - understand that I have not changed - I am still the person I always was - just a little bit wiser about things now......