I recently found myself in the unenviable position of trying to explain integrity to a ten year old. The ten year old in question, my oldest son, was talking about the Star Wars movies (as he does morning, noon, and night) when the question came up. I made the comment that Star Wars creator George Lucas “has a great imagination, is a good storyteller, but can’t write dialogue and he lacks integrity.” As I should have anticipated, I was then was faced with the challenge of trying to explain the complex concept of integrity.
And it is complex.
In general words like morals and ethics and character and honesty come up while trying to define integrity. But how do you really explain that to a ten year old?
Since our conversation revolved around the Star Wars franchise, I went to the often lamented fact that Lucas used cute little alien teddy bears in his 1983 film Return of the Jedi for no reason other than merchandise sales. I tried to explain to him that if Lucas had integrity, maybe one could even say “artistic integrity,” he would have focused more on completing the grand, arching story of his ground-breaking trilogy than on selling teddy bears.
The bottom line, I explained to my son, was that Lucas allowed himself to be corrupted by the money. As Glen Frey once said, “It’s the lure of easy money; it’s got a very strong appeal.”
In one of the strange coincidences of life that I’ve now come to accept as commonplace, it was only a few weeks after our conversation that it was announced that Lucas had sold the rights to the Star Wars franchise for over $4 billion. Set, match, game to Mr. Hale.
Next I’d like to spend some time talking about the politicians of the past fifty years who have shown integrity.
OK.
Finally I’d like to mention integrity in sports. And I do need to make the distinction between integrity and just being a nice guy. There are, believe it or not, a few nice guys in professional and college sports. There are the guys who go out of their way to interact with fans and do a pretty decent job of staying out of trouble. That’s not what I’m talking about. That’s not what I wish to impart to my childen. As I mentioned earlier, integrity involves morals, ethics, character, and honesty.
One needs look no further than the two most successful coaches in college football history to see a striking distinction in integrity. Exhibit A: Bobby Bowden. On numerous occasions Bowden made it known that his main purpose as the head football coach at Florida State University was not to prepare his players for the NFL. Not even was it to bring national championships to Tallahassee. According to Bowden, his main goal was to create young men of character; to impact their lives in a positive manner. Bowden considered himself to be a successful coach if his players left his program better than when he first met them.
On the flipside is the late Joe Paterno. Even if you’re not a football fan you’ve probably heard the nauseating details of the child sex abuse scandals at Penn State under Paterno’s regime. While no one may ever fully know to what extent Paterno had knowledge of the abuse, it seems relatively obvious that he was at least aware that something was happening. I don’t wish to further sully the reputation of dead man, so I’ll just end by saying that “integrity” is likely not a word that will be used to remember him.
In the world of popular music, the word integrity is often used, but almost never really present. Even if a musician creates quality music early in his career, the odds are that he’ll later succumb to the pressure for continued album sales by trying to alter his music to match the current flavor of the day. In my teenage years we called it “selling out.” As in, “Did you hear Metallica’s new song? Man they really sold out.”
The irony is that the musicians who don’t remain true to the quality music that brought them success in the beginning end up alienating their true fans and eventually sabotaging their careers. There’s a reason Bruce Springsteen is still selling albums forty years later – he never tried to make disco, hair metal, or grunge.
For non-celebrities the loss of integrity may not be as visible, but it is just as prevalent. In nearly every little nook and cranny of society someone is having an affair, cheating on his taxes, or falsifying his timecard without giving it a second thought. Integrity is such a foreign concept in 2013 that people routinely openly BRAG about their misdoings. On a near-daily basis I hear tales of the abuse of overtime, stolen pallets of sod from construction sites, and food stuffed into purses at buffets – just to name a few.
In nearly every case the lack of integrity is softened by the self-delusion of “sticking it to the man.”
- They don’t appreciate me at work, so I’m going to come in for overtime but go to the gym instead.
- They charge too much for this buffet, so I’m shoving a few pieces of pizza in my purse.
- If I have to pay $4 for a hamburger, we’re going to buy one Coke and split it between the three of us.
Stealing is still stealing; cheating is still cheating; and dishonesty is still dishonesty – no matter what kind of spin you may want to put on it. And while it’s human nature to hold our celebrities to a higher standard than we hold ourselves, deep down we know when our integrity has been compromised. Those who are screaming the loudest about former NFL star Dan Marino’s recently revealed infidelity are very likely the ones who have done far worse. In our ever increasingly secular society, the concept of “throwing the first stone” is completely foreign to most.
So, did my lesson on integrity have any impact on my son? I have no idea. If you’re a parent, you know how that goes. Repeat, Reinforce, Restate, Repeat. I likely won’t really know if I’ve adequately done my job as a parent until he’s an adult and I see what kind of man he becomes. Only then will I be able to see if he’s stealing sod, or stuffing his wife’s purse full of greasy buffet food.
My son loves to write (wonder where he got that from?) and his dream is to be a filmmaker. That’s why he’s so interested in George Lucas. And it would be a literal dream come true for me as a parent to see his goal of making films come to fruition. But I’m saying this right now, if he makes a science fiction film with teddy bears – not only will I not be seeing it, but I will be disowning him too.
WARNING: This video contains alien teddy bears dancing and singing.
View at your own risk.
