Integrity can take many forms.
It means taking your shopping cart to the cart return in the Wal-mart parking lot.
It means informing your professor when they made an error—in your favor—when grading your exam.
Integrity also means that the captain stays with his ship.
So what happened aboard the Costa Concordia last week?
Italian Coast Guard divers found five more bodies Tuesday, bringing the official death toll to 11. Meanwhile, two dozen people are still missing.
But who is safe and sound? Captain of the Concordia, Italian Francesco Schettino.
In fact, leaked audio between the Italian Coast Guard Commander and Schettino, in which the latter argues against orders to stay aboard, seems to point towards what can be construed as cowardice. Darwin may hail this as a shining testament to his "survival of the fittest", yet we doubt that few, if any, are willing to relay this to the families of the victims left aboard.
In our opinion, there's more tragedy to the cruise liner's fatal wreck than just loss of life. It also symbolizes a loss of integrity.
Further, it seems to substantiate the claim that this really is the "all about me" era. Notorious examples include the massive popularity of Facebook and Twitter.
No, this is no longer a time for the romantic notion of "all for one" or even the parlay of Pirates of the Caribbean.
We may not know a damn thing about sailing a vessel, but we do know two things: don't drink salt water, and the captain always goes down with his ship.
Captain Schettino left behind any sense of pride, dignity, courage and integrity on that ship we he decided to abandon it.
It may not be an official crime, defined by an official law. But it most certainly defies any code or moral conduct held by anyone who has even remotely heard of the heroism of a life at sea.
Years after traditionalists started blaming the feminists, we can officially say that chivalry is indeed dead.
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