Many societal ills afflict our society, including immorality, corruption, unethical conduct and lack of a positive value system, to mention but a few. There is need for humanity to make societal ills a common enemy and fully unite in combating the menace.
One formidable weapon to fight these ills is integrity. Integrity may be loosely defined as doing the right thing all the time, even when nobody is watching or when it is not favourable to oneself. If each one of us embraces societal good above partisan or momentary gratification, then we shall be able to protect and preserve humanity.
To overcome ills afflicting us we need to abide by given standards, guidelines and well-researched protocols.
The general tendency of complying with societal standards or set guidelines to escape punishment, secure a reward or to merely attain self-gratification at the expense of what is right is a clear indication of lack of integrity.
Continually educating ourselves on the concept of integrity in order to fully re-engineer our thinking and actions towards humanity and societal good is a strong tool and strategy in combating societal ills.
Integrity may be broadly broken into personal integrity, professional integrity, institutional integrity and societal integrity.
Personal integrity refers to the conscious effort at personal level to do what is right no matter the circumstances. This invites the need for self-governance, self-discipline, forbearance and compliance with regulations and set standards all the time, without coercion or reward.
Personal integrity is the basic level of integrity as it is what underlies our conduct as professionals, as teams within our various institutions and generally as a society.
If we earnestly and decisively uphold integrity at personal, professional, institutional and societal levels then we will be able to effectively overcome the ills that are afflicting our society. Thereby being able to secure the good of humanity.
Bungoma