<p>She has voiced her concern to her superiors. Instead of getting sympathy, however, she feels she is now seen as a troublemaker. Her opinion about the situation is not shared, nor is it respected.</p> <p>Deep in her heart, however, she feels that her job is requiring her to behave in a way that makes her <em>feel</em> out of integrity with herself. She believes that even though she is doing what her job requires, she may be doing long-term harm to someone. Naturally, this doesn’t sit well with her.</p> <p>We have become cynical as a society. The idea that your conscience could be bothering you might be a quaint notion for some people. Ethical dilemmas seem to be an old-fashioned idea to many. Few people take ethics very seriously anymore, it seems. Indeed, our government institutions are struggling because of a lack of ethical clarity.</p> <p>Former Senator Alan Simpson once <a href=”https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alanksimp106083.html” target=”_blank”>said</a>, &quot;If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you <em>don’t</em> have integrity, nothing else matters.&quot;</p> <p>So, what is &quot;integrity?&quot; As I am referring to it, I mean when you feel that you are fully integrated with your words and your actions. You don’t operate on the &quot;do as I say and not as I do,&quot; principle. Your words have meaning, and your actions are in alignment with your words. People see you as someone they can trust. They depend upon your stability and your ability to see clearly the difference between right and wrong.</p> <p>You are in integrity with yourself when you can sleep at night with a clear conscience. When you can look yourself in the mirror because you are honest and trustworthy, you are in integrity.</p> <p>Life presents us with choices every day. Some of them are easy. In fact, many of them are no-brainers. Much of our behavior each day is habitual, after all. On occasion, however, we face ethical dilemmas. We have to make hard choices, and we have to weigh the consequences of our actions on ourselves and others.</p> <p>Does your job ever make you feel like you are doing something wrong? If so, it may be time to consider making a change. Stephen Covey <a href=”https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/stephencov138246.html” target=”_blank”>wrote</a> the following statement about conscience: &quot;Every human has four endowments: self-awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom … the power to choose, to respond, to change.&quot;</p> <p>No one can make the decision for you. Jobs can be hard to leave for a variety of reasons. But life is short. If you feel out of integrity with yourself because of your job, it may be time to change it. You are the only one who can choose for you.</p>” readability=”110.61256544503″>

We learn certain values at an early age. Author Robert Fulghum offered that all we need to know we learned in kindergarten. The basics include sharing, for example. We learn to play fair. We learn not to hit people. We learn to clean up our own mess. We learn not to take what isn’t ours. And we learn to say we’re sorry when we hurt somebody. You get the gist. These are basic values that we learned as children. And we teach our own children these lessons. They are, in fact, the fundamental building blocks of a civil society. Without basic rules of common respect, we would experience chaos and anarchy.

But what happens when you find that as an adult, the rules aren’t always straightforward and tidy? What do you do when your job requires you to do things that may make you feel out of integrity with yourself? What happens to your conscience when this happens? How do you look yourself in the mirror every day and keep up the pretense that everything is OK?

For most people, this isn’t an everyday dilemma, but it can be a problem for some people. I had a conversation with someone recently who was struggling with this very issue. In many ways, she feels that her job requires her to act in a way that she doesn’t feel good about. Yet, she doesn’t know what to do about it short of quitting her job. She isn’t breaking any laws. In fact, she is following the law to the letter!

She has a particular ethical dilemma. In the case of her job, the law creates certain unintended negative consequences. When this happens, it creates a personal crisis of conscience for her.

So, what would you do if this happened to you? Would you quit out of protest? Or would you tell yourself to do your job and stop fretting?

In the case of the person I was talking to, her dilemma is not a simple one. Her salary is good and her family depends upon it. She doesn’t feel that she can quit without having something else lined up first. As I said, she isn’t breaking any laws. One with a less sensitive conscience than hers would not even understand her issue.

She has voiced her concern to her superiors. Instead of getting sympathy, however, she feels she is now seen as a troublemaker. Her opinion about the situation is not shared, nor is it respected.

Deep in her heart, however, she feels that her job is requiring her to behave in a way that makes her feel out of integrity with herself. She believes that even though she is doing what her job requires, she may be doing long-term harm to someone. Naturally, this doesn’t sit well with her.

We have become cynical as a society. The idea that your conscience could be bothering you might be a quaint notion for some people. Ethical dilemmas seem to be an old-fashioned idea to many. Few people take ethics very seriously anymore, it seems. Indeed, our government institutions are struggling because of a lack of ethical clarity.

Former Senator Alan Simpson once said, “If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.”

So, what is “integrity?” As I am referring to it, I mean when you feel that you are fully integrated with your words and your actions. You don’t operate on the “do as I say and not as I do,” principle. Your words have meaning, and your actions are in alignment with your words. People see you as someone they can trust. They depend upon your stability and your ability to see clearly the difference between right and wrong.

You are in integrity with yourself when you can sleep at night with a clear conscience. When you can look yourself in the mirror because you are honest and trustworthy, you are in integrity.

Life presents us with choices every day. Some of them are easy. In fact, many of them are no-brainers. Much of our behavior each day is habitual, after all. On occasion, however, we face ethical dilemmas. We have to make hard choices, and we have to weigh the consequences of our actions on ourselves and others.

Does your job ever make you feel like you are doing something wrong? If so, it may be time to consider making a change. Stephen Covey wrote the following statement about conscience: “Every human has four endowments: self-awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom … the power to choose, to respond, to change.”

No one can make the decision for you. Jobs can be hard to leave for a variety of reasons. But life is short. If you feel out of integrity with yourself because of your job, it may be time to change it. You are the only one who can choose for you.