The level at which we each practice personal integrity, that is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, can be subjective and hard to measure.

We each invision what ” a person of good character” means within the context of our personal filters. That being said, there are accepted commonalities that define moral behavior across your geographic culture or even the human race in general.

For example thou shalt not murder a fellow human is a mostly universal belief across regions, races and religions.

It is the interpretation, recognition and acceptance of exceptions to this moral principle that create the dilemmas (i.e., except when a war is going on or it is enforcing a law or singular belief, and so on)

Practicing Personal Integrity

From an integrity perspective, our personal behaviour should be able to consistently allow us to answer yes to these simple questions:

• Is it right?
• Is  it fair?
• Would others (a majority) answer yes to those questions?

This is a simple self “litmus” test you can perform, before acting, to help you set and the follow  your own morale compass (don’t overlook question 3 as it is the zinger.)

Rules, Laws and other Constraints

Society creates boundaries, both tangible and intangible, often governed by consequences as a way of standardizing behaviour to meet the cultures minimum requirements.

While adherence to these more detailed and sometimes restrictive rules cannot be ignored, just following these standards does not equal high integrity.

My basic test of three questions can be a great assistance to your confidence levels as you try and choose behaviours that could be held to a high moral standard.