Montana Dispatcher Suspended for April Fool's Joke

Virginia EMS Investigates Alleged False Certifications

N. Las Vegas Captain Indicted on Arson

Two Tenn. volunteer firefighters charged with arson

It doesn't take long to search the headlines just on this site to find these headlines and many, many more just like it,

Firefighter arson is becoming all too commonplace. Thefts, and embezzlement are occurring all across the country. Falsifying documentation for certifications is on the rise. Naturally, the fire service has lots of company in these headlines, Law enforcement has their share of headlines with officers committing murder, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and other less serious charges such as official oppression. EMS folks have many of the same headlines. Nurses, Physicians, and even Morticians have their share of stories as well.

I came across this article this morning that got me to thinking. We as public servants, are supposed to hold ourselves to a "higher standard", but if you ask 10 of us what that standard is, you will get 10 different definitions. I see it every day reading the posts on this and many other forums. It's a career/volunteer issue. It's a color or gender thing. It's a young vs old problem. It's a "look at me" how good I am issue. People clearly don't get it.

Why is it that a nobody, goes out and hits a little white ball with a stick, makes such a small infraction that it had to be replayed in slow motion to see it, calls himself on it, and give up a million dollars because of it. What does he have that many of us in public service don't possess? The missing ingredient is; INTEGRITY. Of course there are the exceptions like someone named Woods that are clueless. But how many of us who hold ourselves to the "higher standard" can really say that we have the integrity to give up a paycheck for a small violation nobody else would probably catch?

To truly say we hold a higher standard, means we have the integrity to look at ourselves first. Make sure we can follow the rules ourselves with no exceptions, and pass this ingredient on to those under us whether it is our biological children, or our children we are raising in public service.


http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf/post/Davis-calls-...