RANDOM RAVE: Quakers

In life, there are two things that make smoke erupt from my ears and blood boil in my veins: (1) people who treat others poorly or unfairly and (2) people who don’t say what they mean, mean what they say, and/or do what they say they’re going to do. Number one is self-explanatory. Number two is a bit tricky because it touches on a bunch of stuff like trustworthiness, honesty, and integrity. For now, let’s focus on integrity. It seems that people generally use the word integrity in reference to some sort of strict adherence to an ethical (read: self-righteous, right wing and conservatively Christian) moral code. In my mind, that’s a complete perversion of the word’s true meaning. Perhaps the rampant misuse is deliberate. Or, perhaps, the word is just so oft-repeated that people don’t even know what it means anymore. But, you know who really gets it (in more ways than one)? The Quakers. Integrity’s root, integer, comes from the Latin adjective meaning complete or whole. It’s my understanding that Quakers define integrity as “being true to a higher power, to yourself and to others around you.” It’s that earthy-crunchy wholeness and peace of mind that springs from living life with your complete, physical, emotional, mental, and social being in line. And, it’s the joy of following “your path” in life; whatever you believe that “path” to be. Needless to say, I (like everyone else who is human) fail miserably at the whole integrity thing from time to time. But, you know what? I try. And, I’m big enough to make attempts to correct my actions, admit my faults and, where appropriate, say “I’m sorry.”