Integrity

I was thinking recently about my life as a park ranger, and recalled an episode from about 1976, when I was still rather green and had little experience, especially in the law enforcement function.

I was at a party and two more experienced rangers were talking. One said, "If I need to shade the truth a little to get some dirtbag off the streets (or out of the park) I'm willing to do it."

The second ranger said he had two problems with that. First, if you don't adhere to the truth any defense lawyer worth anything will make a monkey out of you on cross-examination. And second, he said, "When you put your hand on the Bible and swear to tell the truth, you gotta tell the truth."

I agreed with the second ranger, for both reasons. Years later when I was a chief ranger, one of my best moments came when a clerk of magistrate's court approached me after a session and said, "Your rangers have the best reputation for honesty of any federal officers we see here."

I was gratified, naturally, but it worried me that other feds might be shading things to gain convictions.

And I'm relating this little story now just to say that honesty is the best policy and many of us learn that from bitter experience.