Integrity Doesn’t Matter in Circle K

I’ve known it for a long time. It’s no secret. Lots of people are going to balk at the headline and say “Integrity DOES Matter! It does… I mean… it just does! …right?” No, kiddies, it doesn’t. In fact, it doesn’t matter much in life in general insomuch as the outcomes to things are concerned.

Before you get all defensive, let me give the standard disclaimer that I’m sure that neither the preceding nor the following apply in all cases. I’m sure YOUR club isn’t like this. Really.

So consider a fictitious club. Actually, screw that, let’s talk about MY old club. Wanna? I know you do. There are a few folks in our club who are fairly influential but very sneaky. They’re also very self-righteous, which doesn’t seem to mesh with their slimy-sneakitude, but who am I to judge? These folks make a habit of rumor-mongering and meddling in elections. Now, when I say “meddle,” what I mean is that they take advantage of new members and spread rumors and general misinformation and half-truths about folks they don’t like. They don’t tend to tell the whole story… just the part that suits them.

New members, looking up to and admiring these folks, take what they’re saying as the truth. Opinions are formed. Trust is shattered. This dirty cabal of people who are now district and international officers have claimed another minion to puppeteer. Am I being overly dramatic? Probably. It’s not quite that sinister. But it is slimy.

The worst part isn’t having a negative opinion of someone else, but not having the integrity to talk to that person first. The FIRST reaction of these people is to gossip. Instead of trying to fix the problem, the exacerbate it by making sure that everyone in the club knows. It’s dangerous.

While it’s fairly outrageous for District Officers to be behaving this way — disparraging other club members, spreading rumors, and generally being divisive it’s even more outrageous for an International Board Member to be doing it. It sets a very poor example and is generally something that should be below one of the highest ranking members of the organizatoin. Is it? Not at all, apparently.

I’m going to leave names out of it for now, but suffice it to say that this is not a one-time problem. This happened when I considered running for President again at the end of last year it’s been happening since, and it’s still happening now. The sad part is that even after confronting some of them, they still do it, and pretty much openly.

I mean, what it really comes down to is this: if what you have to say has merit and is true, you should be able to bring it up in front of the club and give the accused a chance to defend him/herself. If you can’t do that, you obviously don’t believe what you’re saying enough to be pushing it off on others.

The sad thing is that this goes on pretty much everywhere. The circumstances may be different, but the back-room politics in CKI are obnoxious. It’s a system that is so hell-bent on being “polite” in a caucus that to get the dirt out we have to spread rumors.