Is integrity the foundation of a life well-lived?

This is a good question and one that in this moment is really quite pertinent. I read the other day that there are over 100 billionaires in the Chinese Communist Party’s government which is not only obscene but also makes a farce of the idea of Chinese communism. Early in the year, on January 3, the BBC reported that CEOs of the UK’s top companies had already earned the same amount as the average British worker earns in a full year. When I shared the story with my step-son, he quipped, that most of those CEOs were probably on holiday skiing in some fancy resort at the time. Three days of work (or leave) to earn what the average worker in that country earns in a year. It can’t get more unequal than that.

The levels of global inequality really are shocking once you take the time to look at them. This blog isn’t necessarily about that, but about a deeper question of values and legacy. I recall a quote, I cannot find it again or the source of it, but I remember it went something like this, I aim to make money because it gives me the great joy of giving more of it away. Some of those Chinese communists with billions could be a little more communist and listen to these words and possibly some of those CEOs might keep what they earn, say up to the end of February or March, and then donate everything more they earn for the year to some good causes. Wouldn’t the world be a better place if more people, all people did this. You would think so.

Philanthropy is going gang-busters at the moment. Many of the world’s richest people are now in the game of Philanthropy. Many are using their money to support good causes. The list of billionaires donating billions to poverty eradication, education programs, climate change, health and wellbeing programs is incredibly impressive. Looking at the rich list from the angle of philanthropy, these are generous people. Yet, the world gets more unequal, poverty levels continue to rise, and climate change worsens.

I’ve been thinking about this matter a lot and using a combination of my political economy background and the lens afforded me by THW to try and answer this question. I’m not sure I an answer, but I have some insights.

Giving is good especially when business is better.

Thinking through this conundrum, I thought I’d investigate how the ultra-rich treat their workers. I am especially interested in the ones that are paid minimum wage and in places like the US where the poor keep seeming to get poorer. Amazon seemed like a good place to start. It is one of the world’s largest companies and its owner Jeff Bezos has given away billions. In fact, he has pledged to give away his entire fortune of $128 billion to charity during his lifetime. In terms of giving is good, Bezos is very, very good. However, I’m also concerned with the question of how that fortune was earned. To judge a person, don’t we also need to know what actions they have taken to acquire their wealth?

So, I did a bit of investigating. What I found wasn’t pretty. Amazon are notorious for their woeful treatment of low paid workers. And, Bezos is largely responsible for many of the practices that keep wages very low and create poor working conditions. Amazon has very high staff turnover, which Bezos believes is the key to keeping wages low and fuelling high productivity. An investigation by New York Times, found that Amazon’s staff turnover was 150% at most of its warehouses and that:

“Bezos held a theory that workers expect raises, but at the same time, they become complacent over time, and don’t work as hard… The solution was to replace workers before their productivity further deteriorated and pay increased. It's more efficient to hire fresh, new people.”

Bezos is also well known for his anti-union stance going as far as using illegal practices to “bust” any attempts to form a union at Amazon. The US National Labor Relations Board, a Federal government institution, found that Amazon, Tesla and a range of other US companies, some owned by billionaire philanthropists, repeatedly utilised illegal practices to prevent collective action by its workers. Many of these workers are poorly paid and live barely above the poverty line. Reading the reports of these employees who are on minimum wage or close to it, often in casualized positions without healthcare, working in deplorable conditions, unable to pay their bills or cover their healthcare needs, makes me wonder if the the billionaire owners of the companies that underpay them or sack them on the spot realise the contradictions of their actions?

So, those who giveth away also taketh away!

 

You are what you regularly do:

I don’t for a minute think that the problems of the world would be solved if only billionaires treated their staff more fairly and paid them a proper living wage. But, if they did do that, at the very least, many people’s lives would be marginally better than they are now. Furthermore, if the richest people in the world, and the corporations that rake in huge profits, paid their taxes, I suspect that the levels of poverty and inequality, that have now reached quite a critical point, would be reduced dramatically. While these would be huge improvements to the world we live in and to the lives of billions of people, this is not specifically what this blog post is about.

It is rather, about integrity. You see, these uber-rich folk, acquire billions and billions by being great in the business they are in. I admire them for their contributions and for the businesses they have built. I do not begrudge them their wealth even if I believe the amount that one needs to live is much, much less than they have even after they give away huge amounts. What I am interested in is the question of “integrity”.

If we believe we are what we constantly do, then integrity is a vital piece for understanding who we are and what we stand for. Integrity has two meanings. The first has to do with honesty and having a strong moral code by which someone lives their life. When a person’s actions align with their beliefs, they are said to have integrity. The other use of the word is related to the first in the sense that we use the word integrity to describe the wholeness, or indivisibility of a thing.

“The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think, and what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny … it is the light that guides your way.” – Heraclitus

 Despite, this quote from Heraclitus, Ancient Greeks didn’t have a single word for what today we refer to as integrity. The message though, is what today we understand as integrity and, therefore, the word fits nicely. We can say the word integrity aligns with what Heraclitus means to say.

The Ancient Greeks spoke of actions being the ultimate determinant of a person’s character. Integrity as we know it, wasn’t a value for them. It was instead a base, or a precondition, necessary for a person to demonstrate their values. As the Ancient Greek philosophers saw it, a person who did not act in accordance with good moral values was not a person of good moral character. In other words, that person did not have integrity.

Integrity has become an imperative concept for me, and the THW is a project aimed at bringing together different parts of life in such a way that they form a consistent whole. THW is driven by both definitions of integrity combined.

The project started with giving value to the actions related to exercise and healthy living. Then, the project moved to how these values converted to other parts of life. In other words, what would it mean if the values associated with exercise and healthy living were understood not in isolation from other parts of one’s life, but as a basis on which one’s beliefs and actions were based. The outcome of this now underpins THW.

So, when exercise and healthy living are understood not just as physical activity and promoting good health but more, much more, then they become powerful tools for directing our lives.

I’ve searched the web for similarly framed projects. I’ve had little luck. Many, many websites provide details of the benefits of exercise and healthy living. None of them are wrong. But they do not go beyond the health benefits and some mention of the psychological good that exercise and healthy living provide. Australian philosopher Damon Young’s book, How to Think about Exercise is an exception. In his book, he derides dualism- the division of our lives into physical and non-physical parts. Instead, he argues, we are not dualist. Our bodies and our minds coexist. These elements of who we are cannot be without the others. They not only coexist, but they are also interdependent. 

The Ancients didn't believe in dualism either. The first gymnasiums, unlike the gyms we have today, were places where men exercised and intellectualised. They portrayed Gods as both smart and strong. Take Athena for example was both the Goddess of Wisdom and of War. Apollo was the god of music and poetry, and also the god of archery.

I want to go one step further and add values and character to the equation. I believe that the values that are encapsulated by exercise and healthy living such as self-care, kindness to self, discipline, diligence and a form of honesty to oneself, provide a set of values that form the basis of who we are. When we act in accordance with these values and exhibit them to those people closest to us, with our work colleagues, with our community and with the planet we inhabit, then this gives us integrity. With integrity comes good things for ourselves and also for others. Integrity undoubtedly is the foundation on which a life well-lived is based. Integrity is also the path on which to travel THW.