Integrity, huh?

What exactly does it entail to have integrity? The Oxford dictionary defines it as 'wholeness, soundness, uprightness and honest; noun 1 the quality of being honest and morally upright. 2 the state of being whole or unified. 3 soundness of construction.'

Now if we take it as a noun applied as a character description we have: honest, wholeness,and morally upright.

Hmmm, so if someone were to know about something that was confidential-in-confidence YET alleges that someone else breached that in camera code YET that the first person was not privy to the information nor part of any consultations regarding the information...how is that person to know the alleged information was a) commercial-in-confidence or b) told in camera? Unless some other individual told said, first person . Bit of double standard there with the word integrity, me thinks. Not a lot of 'wholeness' of the story either.

Gets tricky, doesn't it? Moving on to the matter of honesty...now its a matter of some conjecture as to what makes an honest man. Thomas Jefferson once stated

An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Melish, January 13, 1813

Or as Pope said,

An honest man is the noblest work of God.

Alexander Pope
English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

So by the definitions of these illustrious historical figures, an honest man is one of fairness and social conscious, who was created by God. Ok, then we have;

Honest people don't hide their deeds.
Emily Bronte

So we have social conscious, God fearing, and open about all matters and what of 'morally upright'? Do you have to be upright in the sense of publicly seen to be upstanding in order to have morality? Or can a person be upright by the above definition yet amoral?

Or still ;is a person capable of being morally destitute whilst still proclaiming to be the litmus test for integrity? The answer is a resounding 'NO".

A person cannot hold themselves up in judgment of an attribute, they have no comprehension of nor possess themselves. In the definition of integrity, many other characteristics come to light and in assessment of these characteristics it would seem that to question the integrity of one persons alleged actions ; places the integrity, honesty, wholeness and morality of others on a far higher platform for query.