Integrity 1

A visit to Venice a couple of years ago inspired this poem:

Everywhere you look hundreds of faces
In every window, on every corner, in every store
Masks painted all colours, decorated with twirls and swirls
Some adorned with glitter and feathers and rhinestones
Others with works of art created across their brows
Yet all the faces are frozen, still and impermeable
All of them blank and startling, coldly staring
Masks worn to confuse and deceive, worn to hide and mislead
All of them silent, smooth and enigmatic
Masks made from paper mache, plaster and porcelain
Ageless faces, free from the marks and lines that scar ours
Unlike our human faces of imperfection and mediocrity
Unlike our masks of vulnerable flesh
Our masks that reveal things
That I'd rather not see.

And I was reminded of it as I watched the three main contenders for Prime Minister- Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg- start their election campaigns. All of them wearing their chosen masks. Mr Brown is going for inscrutable, solid, dependable and his mask comes with an optional grin that in the wrong light resembles a grimace. For some strange reason Mr Cameron has opted for a mask that resembles a younger Tony Blair and has cleverly teamed it with a black bomber jacket and chinos. The Superman quiff sets the whole ensemble off nicely. Mr Clegg has gone for a mask with an enormous forehead - no doubt to give the illusion it holds and protects an enormous brain. They are posed and arranged and are allowing their wives to be paraded for the press to examine, dissect and, when the winner is announced, one of the Sarah's (sorry Miriam) will be our first 'First Lady'.

So what is the reality behind the masks? One reality I would like to see is integrity. Since the Expensegate it is hard to believe that any MPs have any integrity and although the three party leaders were seen to crack down on those MPs who were using the expense system for personal gain they all knew it was going on, condoned it and even dabbled themselves. Of course any money they spend or expenses they incur whilst carrying out their duties as MPs should be reimbursed but these people have profited by using the previous expense system. My local MP is not one that has shamelessly profited by abusing the system and has always supported much more transparency and less scope for abuse. He has consistently claimed lower expenses than most other MPs for years. He does not claim any expenses other than the employment of staff and communicating directly with constituents. A man of Integrity? Maybe but.....

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it. ~Buddha