Outrage Over a Leader’s Lack of Integrity

Our outrage has no meaning and no power if we are not holding ourselves to a higher standard than the people we claim to be outraged by.

Maybe you have read about our “outrage culture.” Everyone is outraged about something. You can see it on television or on social media or even over coffee with friends. Outrage permeates our society these days more than ever. There are a lot of topics people choose to be outraged about. But, one of our society’s favorites past times is to declare outrage over the lack of Integrity of our leaders.

And why not? It is hard to trust these people when we can see video proof of them saying one thing and then doing another. Or when someone finds old footage of a speech where that person supported something that today they vilify somebody else for supporting. Or when we can look-up a website that points out the multiple lies a leader makes in a speech.

We all want a leader of Integrity. We want to follow someone we can trust. To get our trust, a leader has to maintain their Integrity. When they don’t – we become outraged!

Hello pot! I would like to introduce you to kettle.

That’s right. What about us? Do we deserve any of the outrage we direct towards our leaders? If we pause and stop being outraged by others, we might recognize our own hypocrisy. The power in our society will be realized when we stop looking at everyone else to change, and begin changing ourselves. Let’s look in the mirror. When we do, we will see much of the things we are outraged about in our leaders played out in all of us.