Stand up!

Over the past few weeks I have been reading news about violence in schools - 7 fatal stabbings across the country this year already - and that’s not talking about adults, it’s talking about pupils, some in primary school, stabbing one another. 

At the same time, it has been exams, and with that has been the usual slew of exam irregularities, which includes students attempting to cheat. (Anyone who tell you kids at their school don’t cheat, they are lying - either they know and are deliberately lying, or their kids are just so smart they have the teachers fooled.) Some of the blatant methods used astound me with their stupidity - did they seriously think they wouldn’t be caught out? And then, of course, when students are under stress they say and do the silliest things, usually on social media, which then gets reported to the staff. (Again, did they seriously think it wouldn’t be seen?)

At the start of the exam season I attended the South Africa Principals Association conference. (No, I’m not a principal; the conference is open to ordinary teachers too.) One of the speakers was Emma Sadlier, who is a renowned South African lawyer specializing in social media cases. Some of the stories she shared, about how students treat each other - things they say on and do social media, were bone chilling. No need to read a horror story when that kind of thing is happening in reality in this country (and across the globe)!

All this to say that I’ve been pondering what it means to have integrity, and why it is that our young people seem to be lacking it. 

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

This quote is reportedly by Socrates, quoted by Plato, but was actually a statement by Kenneth John Freeman in his Cambridge dissertation in 1907. Never the less, I think any generation would feel this way about the next generation. 

Maybe because so much of my time is spent dealing with the naughty kids at school - whether through the DT system (which I manage), or as a grade head, I can accept that my opinions on the matter are skewed to one side. Many of those I deal with seem to lack integrity. They are quite happy to pass the buck as quickly as possible, and if they can’t, to point out the faults in others to deflect from themselves. If they can’t do that either they lie outright, denying all knowledge of anything you might say. In many cases, when they have knowledge about something, they will refuse to do the right thing and inform on their friends, even if doing so would mean the rest of the school community would be safer. It’s the whole ‘snitches get stitches’ thing, which makes me mad, because it endangers the other 1000+ people in the school community in preference for a friendship with one other person.

Smile 90.4 FM have an advert that runs something like this: “If you saw a wallet on the ground, and picked it up, what would you do? (Pause) You’d give it back, of course!” It continues to espouse the value of integrity, saying that people who do the right thing have a heart. How can it be that the programme managers and management of a popular radio station feel it is essential enough to spend the money to run an ad that promotes integrity? Have we, as a nation, really fallen that far?

I think we have. I think that both through the effect of Apartheid, the effect of a modern society that promotes individualism to the extreme, and finally, through the efforts of people like Richard Dawkins and the militant atheists, the moral fibre of our society seems to have been ripped apart at the seams. There is no doubt in my mind that some of this is Satan’s work - gleefully encouraging us to love ourselves more than others, to ignore God, and to do nothing when we see injustice. But I don’t think we can lay all the blame at his door. We are by nature fallen beings, prone to going our own way and the further we are from Christ, the easier it is for our moral compass to be incorrectly aligned.

Having integrity takes courage. It requires you to speak truth, even at cost to yourself. It demands that you take responsibility for not only your own problems, but those of others around you as well. True integrity flourishes in a heart that is soft, that shows grace towards others, that loves at all times, that forgives. Those with integrity stand with not just their heads above the parapet, but their chest and arms as well, knowing full well that they make a target of themselves, and choosing to do it anyway, because it’s the right thing to do.

How do we help our broken young people develop integrity like this? How do we make it more attractive to them than the alternatives? How do we raise up a generation in this country, at this time, in our context of massive unemployment and a failing education system, that chooses to do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do - not for reward, not out of fear of punishment, not because of coercion? The simple solution is to make disciples of Jesus, of course. 

I was going to say, though, that the reality is that in this multi-cultural, multi-faith society, saying preaching Jesus is verboten. But when I look at the time that Paul spent in Ephesus, I see exactly the same set-up. Ephesus was a major city in Paul’s time, sitting on a major cross-road, and hence centre, for trade between East and West, North and South. It was the global centre for the worship of Artemis, amongst other gods. Paul stood up, every day, and preached for several hours, for 3 years. Of course, he was ultimately executed for sticking his neck above the parapet, so to speak. Yet, he was so convinced of the power of the gospel to change lives that he thought the risk was worth it.

So I guess, in the end, the question I am left with this is - do I think the risk of sharing the gospel with those around me is worth it? There is no short-term fix for a lack of integrity. If the only long-term solution I can see is to make disciples of The Way, am I willing to stand up and be counted? Am I willing to be the voice crying in the wilderness - maybe excluded and isolated, maybe feeling like a freak, maybe being insulted, probably not being liked very much - calling others to a higher standard, holding them to account, speaking truth in love?

I’d love to be able to answer ‘yes’ without a 2nd thought, but the truth is that that kind of radical faith is scary. I want to be that kind of person, and sometimes I think I am. But I know that, God forgive me!, often I shrink back, too scared of making waves, of alienating myself from others, or of looking a fool. So really, if I can’t be a model of integrity to others, how can I expect others to be one? 

I can lament the situation because I know God laments the situation too. His desire is for righteousness to cover the earth. Even in my imperfect state, I know that it’s okay (and right) for me to lament the situation. But I need to be part of the solution. I am called to be part of the solution - that’s what being a disciple of Jesus means. This is not something I can just suck up and get on with, or manufacture the strength to do. This is far too difficult for that. No, what I need is the power of the Spirit, every day, every hour. On my own I don’t have the strength or ability. With my God, I can scale a wall though! (Ps 18:29)