The Selection – Integrity
I recently watched an episode of the History Channel's newest show, “The Selection” entitled “Humility”. If you’ve not seen the show, it’s a reality-based TV show where 30 candidates volunteer to enter into a selection process very similar to that of military special operations recruits…(think, Navy Seals, Green Berets, Army Rangers, etc). I’ve watch each and every episode; sometimes cringing at the difficult tasks that each candidate is put through. Many of the tasks are physical…many are mental…and all will test the strongest person you could find in body or psyche. From 30 candidates…they were down to 5 remaining.
Here's a taste of the show; talking with an instructor about "perspective". Check it out...
The Selection: Bonus - Have Perspective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3BRrS8Jkp8
In the “Humility” episode, the theme of the exercises they participated in was a focus on ‘integrity’. They were given a serious of ‘integrity stations’ where they had to perform a variety of physical tasks and do them exactly as expected to perfection, with no mistakes. Unlike other tasks they had done in the past, this time they were not being watch by the instructors and so in lies the requirement to be honest with themselves and demonstrate integrity when no one is watching.
I like Webster’s definition for kids of the word
‘integrity’: “total honesty and sincerity”. That’s pretty simple and easy to
understand.
C.S. Lewis put it another way…”Doing the right thing even
when no one is watching”.
Life is fraught with opportunities to put integrity to the
test. The sign at the stoplight might
say, “No Right On Red”…and yet people do it anyway. The boss might have a rule, “Using social
media accounts during work time is prohibited”.
And still, people post on Facebook or Snapchat when the door to the
office is closed. And like the picture below, it usually doesn’t
take much intelligence to figure out who is doing their part in holding up the
log…and who isn’t.
No matter the situation, place or time, human nature proves
time and again that a person’s integrity is a really hard thing to
maintain. Social status, wealth or
position don’t seem to matter. We can
all cite examples of politicians, celebrities, pastors, teachers, police
officers, or just the average ‘Joe’ on the street that can’t seem to maintain
their integrity. Religious affiliation
doesn’t seem to matter either…Christian, Jew, Muslim, Bahá’í, Buddist, Hindu, or any other kind of
religious order or cult. They all have
those who fail their own integrity station.
But back to “The
Selection” episode I referred to. What
the candidates didn’t know was that there were hidden cameras all along the
trail and at each station, watching to see if they did each task correctly to
perfection…and didn’t cheat.
A couple of the
instructors put the importance of integrity into perspective in a narrative
form for those watching the show…and I really liked how the point was
made. Here’s part of what they said.
“Integrity is a dangerous thing, and I’ll put it in
perspective. Everybody wants to be on
top of the mountain, but the problem now days is people want to get dropped off
at the top of the hill and look down. You see the way we’re (Special
Ops) taught is, you’re gonna claw, you’re gonna
scratch, you’re gonna bite, you’re gonna dig, you’re gonna do whatever it takes
to get to the top of that mountain. And
if somebody or something says you need to do 50 burpees (type of
exercise) that’s just an obstruction in life. That’s the symbolism. The exercise means nothing. You wanna climb up that mountain? Integrity is key.
What’s so important about integrity and why hit it so
much? It’s not just about being in the
military, it’s about life. Why on earth
would you want to short change something?
You lead by example. And the
reason why that integrity station is so key and so vital is that myself and
every other instructor lead by example.
Again, integrity can be contagious, and it’s a good
thing. So when we tell people, ‘hey…get
from point A to point B and whatever the hell gets in your way, do it’, we want
it done. And what’s the end result by
the time we get there? Perfection.
I wanted to see if the team, even though they had been
broken off as individuals would still work as one, right? Because if everybody does 100 percent then
it’s complete.
People can see through bullshit. And people can tell when people don’t have
integrity. It’s something that would
not, and will not, be tolerated.”
Of course, as you
might guess, one candidate failed the integrity test. I found it humorous that the instructors used
the same words I used to say to my girls growing up. “I want you to tell me what you did wrong…and
don’t lie to me, because I already know the answer.” One candidate almost immediately stood up and
admitted that he may have failed to count all the reps for one exercise and
thinks he might have missed one or two. The
video proved him right. Instead of 50…he
only did 48.
There was hell to pay, for sure. The instructor looked him dead in the
eye…read him the riot act…dressed him down…and then paused to stare him in the
face. What he discovered was true
remorse for having failed. The
instructor, believing there was no ill intent, allowed the candidate to ‘think
about what he’d done’ and stew on it for awhile…fearing he was about to be
eliminated from the program.
After some time the instructor announced the candidate would
be allowed to repeat the exercise in its entirety and remain in the
program. But you want to know what was
truly inspiring? After getting chewed
out and apologizing to his fellow candidates for failing the team, each of them
tried to encourage him…admitting that any one of them might have accidently
done the same. They rallied around him
in support. And then…once it was
announced he would have to repeat the exercise, all four of the remaining
candidates said, “We’ll do it over with you”.
And they did.
That, my friend, is comradery, teamwork, friendship,
honesty, and integrity. Those five
candidates had been to hell and back…and they did it together. What started as an individual quest, turned
into a group effort. They no longer did
it for selfish reasons. They did it for
someone else.
Jesus Christ put it this way to his disciples: “Greater love hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Integrity
– it’s a character trait worth dying for.
- Papa Chief
