Straight From The Heart: Does Integrity Require Rules

By Dhanvin Kumar, National Finalist at ESU-MIDP Public Speaking 2016

Albert Camus, a world-renowned philosopher, once said. ”If you create rules to live by, sooner or later you'll encounter the situation where wisdom will have you break them. "

A very good morning, members of the hall. Today, I seek all of your ears for my speech, "Straight From The Heart." I am not here today to recite poetry, nor a Hindi movie, but to plant the seed in each and every mind in this hall that integrity is a virtue that comes straight from the heart and doesn't require rules. 

For us to judge the statement well, let me resolve the statement into its two main components- integrity and rules. From what I know, integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles in one's life. Rules on the other hand, are a set of regulations within a particular area or activity.

Rules and integrity are two man-made designs that seemingly are unable to live without each other. The best example would be practiced by the leader of a nation. Leaders are supposed to be people of integrity, as they are the ones that will decide the fate of their nations. Their integrities are flanked by the long list of rules that act like statements of conduct on how they should be "politically correct" while in office. In theory, this may sound good. What about those who break the norm, however? Are they considered as people of no integrity? Does a leader have to be unblemished in his virtues in every angle even though his main duty of leading his subjects and governing the country is exemplary?

While peasants like us may crave for integrity in our national institutions, the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles will never be instilled in without reverence being set inside us. It is this reverence that has been rehashed as rules today.

What do I mean by this? It is simply that rules are there to scare us into acting "politically correct". Most of us fall under its spell and are bound to it for life. It is not a guarantee that we will act with integrity. Rules are not our brains, are they? So why should they even play a role in how they act?

Flipping through the history annals, I could not help but notice that no leader has ruled without a set of principles of conduct. Name them- Alexander, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan. Can we say that they had no integrity, for they needed laws to govern? Their feats and achievements may have been great but cannot be taken at face value for history is always written by the victors. Perhaps even they knew that integrity and rules do not complement one another.

Integrity and rules do not co-exist. If mankind can carry out his obligations with restraint, rules should not be existent. A political leader with all sorts of rules to back him is not a person of integrity as the virtue does not come straight from the heart. 

Let me cite an example. Ex-US presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton presided over different eras of the United States- namely the 70s and the 90s, but their stories are somehow connected. Both had all the rules set in place, including a Constitution that had been created 200 years ago. But both of their political careers were tarnished- due to their non-existent integrity.

Nixon, the Watergate, was not so fortunate unlike Clinton, who I actually saw out his second term despite the Lewinsky scandal hanging over his head. The main issue here is, was integrity upheld with these rules? Not at all. Integrity is a human trait and is upheld only by the individual's sincerity to practice it. Apparently, Nixon, and to a lesser extent, Clinton lacked the trait. They erred big time in office and exposed the world's worst-kept secret, which was integrity is not guaranteed by rules.

If a leader were to rule with integrity, he or she would not need a long list of rules to carry out his duties with integrity. It needs to come from the heart. Instead of loudly claiming to be someone of integrity, the leader needs to show it! Show it by practicing honesty, meritocracy, tolerance and other good values openly. Leaders should also treat corruption and cronyism like Devils and not Angels. 

With integrity you have nothing to fear, since you have nothing to hide.

With integrity you will do the right thing, since you have no guilt. 

Ladies and gentlemen, the next time we see a leader acting without integrity, remember that integrity is always dependent on the heart and soul of someone. 

- [x] Be the type of person that leaves a mark, not a scar. Thank you.

Changes in 15 years, 2030

Peace and stability- Middle East
2) Technological advancements.
3) Manned space shuttles to Mars.
4) Robots

1) Fifteen years ago, it seemed like this year would be the peak of human civilization.movies? Fifteen years on, 2030 is not far away. I would like to envision 2030 in a great way; flying cars, robots and so on. I have to get back to reality though, as those will certainly not exist. Although 2030 should be a landmark year, I would still like to see it pan out differently.

2) The most important thing that I would like to see in 2030 is an even more technologically-advanced human society. Yes, we might admit that in 2015, we humans can do anything; from going to the bottom of the Mariana Trench or stepping foot on the Moon. But there are several things that still remain beyond our control.

3) A great example is cancer. A disease that has existed for as long as humans itself, we have yet to find a cure for it. Research for cancer has been progressing over the years but cancer continues to kill hundreds of people daily. Perhaps by 2030, the technology to cure cancer will exist, but another question shall arise; will everyone be able to afford it? The price of treatment will skyrocket and as usual, the poor won't be able to afford it. Even if there is a cure, the majority of the population can't be treated. So why should there be a cure in the first place? The people of 2030 need to make sure that the treatment is affordable and suits the poor's budget. Even before treating cancer, perhaps we should also strive to provide medical access to all in the first place. The need to convince the affluent population of the world that communicable diseases do indeed kill and mankind has managed to eradicate many potentially fatal diseases like small pox and poliomyelitis via immunization. Maybe, they are barking the wrong tree when they insist that autism is medically induced.


4) The world needs a lot of peace and stability and that's what I would like to see fifteen years from now. Terrorism and extremism has become a major problem for many nations as the divide between moderation and extremism continues to grow. Let's ask ourselves; does religion really allow all this? No, right? Then why does terrorism remain to exist? It's because of the racial inequality that exists in this world. All religions and races must be tolerant of each other's views. I would like to see the Middle East to be a peaceful region. The wars in the world's most unsafe region should cease as there should be no reason to fight. Sure, the Middle East is rich with oil, but since oil reserves are expected to run out by then, there should be no reason for them to engage in their unending wars. Besides, haven't the current generation been taught about maintaining world peace? It is high time that we actually put a full stop to the wars and fights occurring all over the world, and use the energy instead to modernize the current human civilization. Our time on Earth as a species is finite. At look of things, it appears to me that we are heading straight to self annihilation.

5) I would like to see humans conquer space. Manned missions to Mars are planned for 2030, and I hope it happens. In the likely event where Earth is destroyed due to an apocalyptic catastrophe, we need a new home to continue the human race. Mars seems like a candidate, but we need a permanent base. The technology that we have seen in science-fiction films will become a reality as we will set up our first space colony. Perhaps we might be making homes all over the Galaxy, but that seems like a far-fetched idea for now.

6) I would also like to see the introduction of actual artificially-intelligent (AI) robots into our daily life. The line between reality and science fiction has been thinning over the couple of years, and with robots, science fiction might not even exist anymore. Robots will definitely be a boon for us as we do not need to depend on manual labour to get tedious things done. They can do it all for us. Our lives are made simpler and human civilization will make the next step in advancement. We shouldn't worry about AI taking over the world as it is bound to never happen. Instead, AI will take our comfort zone to the next level.


7) To sum things up, what lies ahead in 2030 is an exciting prospect. I would definitely like to see my hopes and wishes come true as it would make the world a better place to live in. These could only be my hopes and wishes and there is a chance that it won't be taken seriously. But shouldn't everyone be allowed to decide how their future world should be? How nice would December 31, 2030 be if what I wish really happened.

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