Integrity Essay

Morals reflect both the being you strive to become and the individual you truly are. The value morals hold in both society and our own minds are vastly immoderate. The degree to which we hold ourselves to our own moral determines our integrity. An adherence to a code of moral or artistic values, incorruptibility, is what’s known as integrity. A lack of integrity is often recalled far longer than actions within integral standings. Both John Proctor, from The Crucible, and Ed Murrow, of Good Night, and Good Luck, share this admirable trait to a great extent. I look for a lot of things in people before I fully bring them into my life. Those whose decisions have a kind of inner uniformity and integrity that makes them morally unassailable, those who I can trust. I want to associate myself with a person who I know would never betray me and always do what’s right, because if not your word than what have you? I define integrity as holding true to your own beliefs and standards. Living your life in a way that makes you proud or content is crucial, as John and Ed lived. The Crucible showed a large variation of characters with an even more significant variant of personalities. John Proctor was accused of witchcraft after a cruel manhunt plagued with lies and deception. His integrity was highlighted throughout the play, for example, when he confessed to the sin of adultery to save his wife. In another instance, John agrees to save his life and confess to witchcraft by post his name on the church, but when it comes to it, he cannot, â€Å"Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my whole life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of those who hang! How many may live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!† (Miller 1166). His integrity could not allow him to sacrifice the identities of those close to him. He gave his existence to preserve the integrity he made for his name. John Proctor was a selfless man of pure integrity. Ed Murrow also shared those qualities. The film Good Night, and Good Luck tells the story of McCarthyism, Joseph McCarthy used the fear of communism to wrongly jail citizens. Ed Murrow is the host of Good Night, and Good Luck on CBS. He sees the wrong in McCarthy’s actions and decides to take a stand  and tell the public his view. His entire career is in jeopardy, even himself exposing the lies of his profession for justice, â€Å"We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse, and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it, and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late.† (Good Night, and Good Luck). Ed Murrow risked everything he had and put so much energy into doing what is right. He is a perfect image of integrity. Bothe John Proctor and Ed Murrow were sources of moral value and integrity. Integrity is doing what is right, what is honest and true, and that is exactly what they did. John and Ed are both people we should try to learn from and look up to.