When No One Is Looking

In the year 1789, just four weeks before he assumed the role of first President of the United States, George Washington sent a letter to Secretary of War Henry Knox. One of many heartfelt missives penned by Washington, the letter read in part:

“Integrity and firmness are all I can promise. These, be the voyage long or short, shall never forsake me, although I may be detested by all men; for all of the consolations, which are to be derived from these, under any circumstances, the world cannot deprive me.”

Few people are aware of Washington’s eloquence, not surprising since the study of American history is presently relegated to a status beneath celebrity news, nifty phone apps, and social networking fads. His surviving writings display both a mastery of language and a desire to share passionate beliefs. Washington hid neither his values nor actions under a bushel basket.

I love the Knox letter, for it speaks of traits and lifestyles no longer common. Lets face it; integrity just ain’t what it used to be, and it lost much of its remaining luster over the past four years of government-approved criminality. In a society that values fame and corruption above truth and honor, standing up for one’s principles seems less important than being part of the herd. It is a rare day when we do not see, hear, or read of lies, disgrace, and dishonesty amongst public officials, sports figures, and the endless parade of feckless Hollywood thespians that populate the national stage.

As a people, we seem to have become desensitized to faithlessness and treachery. We hardly blink at falsehood and obfuscation, accepting these and many more offenses as par for the course. Behavior we would have found appalling just a couple of decades ago fails to raise our blood pressure even a whisker.

Really, I’m not so concerned with the actions of the famous and infamous (though they’re often reprehensible) as I am with the actions of the individual on the street. If you look around, probity and an adherence to firm convictions are not exactly in vogue. Many of our fellow citizens are at ease with expounding upon their virtues in public, and disregarding them in private. Integrity is not nearly as important, to most, as expediency and popularity.

An erosion of conscience has taken place, a process aided, abetted, and endorsed by the rot of the Biden administration, and the media lackeys who carried its water. If we can get away with something, if nobody catches us in the act, then all is well. Holding one’s own self-accountable, when no one is looking, is considered laughable. Monitoring our own actions, doing right because it is right and eschewing wrong because it is wrong, is a modus operandi scarce as hen’s teeth.

How did we come to this point? I have a saying: “Television made us stupid. The Internet made us retarded. Social media made us insane.”

The never-ending onslaught of egocentric news and views is the root cause of the aforementioned desensitization. The talk show hosts, news anchors, influencers, YouTube and Instagram divas, politicians, and “beautiful people” of stage, screen, and government have attempted, with great success, to make us believe that bad behavior isn’t really all that bad . . . and that good behavior is a crime.

I’ve noticed that adulterous affairs, ethical scandals, and wholesale criminality are frequently downplayed by media-created luminaries . . . but only after more and more of them have been caught in adulterous affairs and ethical scandals and wholesale criminality. These, as well as a litany of repulsive and perverse actions, are met with a wink and a nod when perpetrated by the rich or famous or connected. Those who report upon such things, not wishing to lose their A-list invites on the party circuit, present the depravities and transgressions of public figures as little more than quirkiness, as cute and amusing infractions.

Indeed, the pompous and vainglorious national media has educated us in what they consider to be inappropriate comportment. Though it’s utter lunacy, our culture exists in some sort of bizarro, backward-land. It is considered a horrific crime to speak against “accepted” conventional wisdom, but matters of character, excellence, and merit have been excised as critical elements in the human equation. For instance, failing to wax self-indulgent as a member of the “green” or “trans” or “BLM” movement is to paint one’s self a pathetic miscreant. Speaking in anything but the dainty lilt of politically correct wokeness garners the label of insensitive boor. Stating a belief in the enforcement of existing laws – such as those that regularly go unenforced in regard to illegal aliens – leads to categorization as an unfeeling monster. Remark that the endless labyrinth of government bureaucracy infringes upon individual liberty, and you will be branded as either a seditionist loon or conspiracy theorist.

All of this nonsense, all the blarney we swallow and all the lies we ignore, are of our own making. Our collective denial stems from the fact that we have lost our grip on, and our pride in, an unwavering integrity; the single quality that George Washington knew could never be taken from him.

When you have integrity, when you live it, you are not deceived by the babble of the self-serving, the power-mad, or the egomaniacal. When your integrity is intact, when it is your greatest source of dignity and self-respect, you do not fall prey to misdirection and deception. You do not accept things that are patently false and blatantly specious just to “fit in.” You point them out, drag them kicking and screaming into the light, and laugh at them with reckless abandon.

For the past four years, few people were laughing.

But luckily, and keep your fingers crossed, the tide MIGHT be turning.