Searching for Integrity

What is good, bad, right, wrong, ethical, honest, dishonest, decent etc. is blurred. Ethical and what is moral have become divisive. Has our conscience or moral behavior failed us? At one time, our voice or our conscience was our guide or internal voice that guided and directed our behavior or actions. If there was a problem with our choices or decisions, we then experienced anxiety, guilt or dread. The development and influence of conscience begins very early as a result of the many interpretations of interactions with a caretaker and/or caretakers. Generally, if that behavior, throughout life, pleased the significant other, one was verbally praised or physically rewarded. On the other hand, if the behavior didn’t correspond with the caretaker’s idea of right or good, but instead was perceived as bad or wrong, one was punished in some way, either or both verbally and/or physically. That behavior might have been ignored as well by the parent. The verbal and physical behavioral consistency or inconsistency by the caretaker was important in developing a notion of the difference between right, wrong and good and bad. Understand that being consistent is very difficult and can be affected by the parents mood, perception, or thinking, at any particular time or day. Add other caretakers, siblings or figures into the equation, and the individual more than likely experienced many other inconsistencies or differences throughout a lifetime. That suggests that an individual would not be clear about what actions gets punished and what behavior gets praised. Would consequences get expressed in a caretaker’s absence? Add to the individual’s experience mixed messages like “Do what I say, not what I do” provides more confusion regarding good or bad. As the infant or child matures, he begins to incorporate and learn many other messages regarding good and bad from figures or models while developing conscience. In other words, the social network and culture of the child expands. Further influences between right from wrong, good from bad, become more difficult to understand. Teacher’s behaviors play an important part in furthering influencing conscience development, as movies, television, cartoons, commercials and the social media. Thus, the moral and ethical definitions , misunderstandings or irregularities continue to be modified, changed as the result of the many influences of interactions within our human world. To Be Continued