Feminist

Integrity…we all have it!

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One of my favorite words is integrity…not the word alone but what it stands for.

As a child growing up in south Florida, and fourth generation Christian Scientist, I remember my dad as a humble man of few words, unencumbered by a high sense of ego. He owned an awning and canvas company that he operated with one employee who helped him with sewing duties.

When hurricane season approached in those days of the 40’s and 50’s, we had about a day’s notice to button up our homes. We would gather around the radio, staring at its wooden veneer for the latest information. My dad would work up until the last minutes before a hurricane would strike. He filled those precious minutes taking down the awnings of his customers, which he performed for free. “They’re my customers,” he explained to my mother. “I don’t charge my customers. They’ve already paid for their awnings.

After the hurricane passed he would return to their houses and rehang all the awnings, also at no charge.

That was the first time I heard my mother use the word “integrity” when explaining the situation to my siblings and myself.

“Your dad has integrity…he does what he thinks is right.”

I’ve been intrigued by the word ever since so you can imagine my delight when I came across an article revealing that the main ingredient Warren Buffet looks for when hiring someone is integrity. “Hiring people with integrity will make leaders sleep well,” he states. “You’re looking for three things, generally, in a person: intelligence, energy, and integrity. And if they don’t have the last one, don’t even bother with the first two.” (1)

The article went on to state that some interviewers ask the question, “If we ever got into a bind with a client, would you be willing to tell a little white lie to help us out”? If you are asked that question and say “yes,” expect a short interview. A “no” indicates a high degree of integrity and a possible good hire.

What does it take to follow higher ethical standards? Is it just an effort to be a better person?

It seems that the Apostle Paul had just such a question when he stated, “The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (2)but then he also stated:….”the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free fro the law of sin and death.”(3)

We tend to think of integrity more in terms of its expression than its essence. We think of the desirable values associated with it—honesty, sincerity, truthfulness, candor and fairness.

What’s the source…where does integrity come from? Is it our parents, like the lesson from my dad?

I was put to just such a test recently. I discovered discrepancies in my lawn man’s billing. I found that he had failed to send me invoices for the past five months. I immediately pointed this out to him and wrote a check for the entire amount. I didn’t have to ponder the question, thinking about how much money I would save by keeping quiet. It was the only course.

I’ve come to realize that the integrity that springs up within us—the desire to do what’s right the discernment to know what is right, and the ability to follow through with honorable actions—flows from the connection we all have with our common Creator, the divine Principle of the universe, God.

The oneness with our Maker is indicated by the word integrity. We read in Psalms that God, “….upholdest me in mine integrity.’ (4) He also said, “I will walk in mine integrity.” (5)

Integrity is derived from integer, meaning honesty, uprightness, adherence to goodness and rightness, completeness entireness, undivided, wholeness.

In Science and Health, we read, “Christ illustrates that blending with God, his divine Principle, which gives man dominion over all the earth.” (6)

Integrity isn’t then simply an option for how to live or a matter of personal moral convictions. Nor does it involve rigid adherence to a human code. In its spiritual meaning, integrity is the state of being complete, whole and perfect. And because God is divine good and the actual source of all the completeness, perfection and goodness that men and women express, integrity—wholeness, soundness and incorruptibility—is built into our very being.

Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, states in Miscellaneous Writings , “The upright man is guided by a fixed Principle, which destines him to do nothing but what is honorable, and to abhor whatever is base or unworthy; hence we find him ever the same, at all times the trusty friend, the affectionate relative, the conscientious man of business, the pious worker, the public-spirited citizen.” (7)

A person who walks-the-walk of integrity eventually becomes a role model who commands respect. Why? Because integrity is a hallmark of moral authority and ethical leadership; people desire and long for it in others, especially in leaders.

The world needs our integrity.

Inc.com: 2/13/18

Rom 7:19

Rom 8:2

Ps. 41:12

Ps. 26:11

Science and Health, p 316

Miscellaneous Writings, p 147

 

March is Women’s History Month

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By Martha Lemasters 

Following the Women’s March in Washington and around the world, I overheard one woman saying, “Those women don’t represent me!”

I couldn’t help but think, “Of course they don’t, you’re privileged…you don’t stand in line for sales, you’re not a single mother living paycheck to paycheck, you don’t depend on Affordable Care Insurance, you don’t depend on low-cost medical service…and you certainly don’t have other men in the office making more money than you do for the same job. You also don’t have to go through the desperation and worry of unwanted pregnancies because you can’t afford birth control.

Women who think that none of these issues affects them are thinking only of their own needs. There is a point in a woman’s life when one’s thinking shifts from what “I” need, to what do my sisters, the women in poverty, or those just facing troubling times, need. It’s a time when we think of others.

There’s a saying, “With great wealth, comes great responsibility.” That responsibility includes taking some concern for the needs of others. I know the concept of “wealth” is relative, depending upon one’s own economic status. But surely the atmosphere of compassion should enter the picture and elicit a sense of sharing and giving.

Within the global community the human rights of women vary greatly. Despite all the progress that has been made in some countries they are still subject to violence and even death.

Domestic violence against women continues to be a scourge. In the U.S., a spouse or boyfriend batters a woman every 15 seconds, and in North Africa, 6,000 women are genitally mutilated daily. Uneven treatment in cases of adultery, divorce, and property rights impoverishes and endangers many women.

I have among my circle of friends those who are gay, transvestite, elderly, black, crippled, poor, and disadvantaged. I am aware of their needs, I feel their heartaches, and I see their fear of bullying and loneliness.

To those who don’t believe in abortion…don’t get an abortion…and by all means, if it involves someone else, mind your own business, unless they are of your religion and have the same beliefs that you do. You have no idea what a woman is going through in her life.
Women’s rights, at its roots, is not a political issue. It isn’t defined by liberal feminism or conservative traditionalism. At the core of women’s rights are deeper questions of origin and identity.

We have only to look at the harsh strictures of the Taliban regime, and their effects on girls’ education and women’s freedom. Also, the second-class status of girls’ education in many countries stunts the lives of millions. Uneven treatment in cases of adultery, divorce and property right impoverishes and endangers women. Thousands of women in India are murdered each year over dowry disputes.

There’s a corollary to this truth: Full expression of manhood will be achieved only as women gain full equality.

You’ve Come a Long Way Baby…

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Martha and IBMersI am reminded of a date in time: August 26, 1971. I was working at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) as a member of the Apollo Launch Support Team. At the behest of Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY) Congress designated August 26 as “Women’s Equality Day.”

Thus began a massive, peaceful civil rights movement by women that had its formal beginnings in 1848 at the world’s first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York.

The observance of Women’s Equality Day not only commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, but also calls attention to women’s continuing efforts to gain full equality.

I had endured my own challenges in the 60’s and 70’s regarding women’s rights. Following my divorce, I couldn’t obtain a checking account unless my ex-husband signed for me. The very clothes I wore in performing my job as a writer at KSC were designated “safety hazards.”

I was also making much less money than my male counterparts as a PR writer. Yet, I knew that things would change; after all I worked for a very progressive company, IBM.

Betty Friedan’s international bestseller, “The Feminine Mystique” ignited my personal consciousness to what gender equality should mean in America and around the world.

Friedan challenged the assumption, at work and at home, that women should always be the ones who make the coffee, watch over the children, pick up after men and serve the meals.

On my own personal level, after years of proving myself and finally being promoted from secretary to write, I recall with great pleasure that same day that I refused to get coffee.

I was a workingwoman when women did not work outside the home. Some of my children’s friends were not allowed to even come to our home, because I wasn’t there to supervise.

Today, it’s common for both the husband and wife to work. Despite the increased workload of families, and even though 70 percent of American children now live in households where every adult in the home is employed, no major federal initiative to help workers accommodate their family and work demands have been passed.

Today, women are still paid less than men at almost every educational level and in almost every job category; they are less likely than men to hold jobs that offer flexibility or family-friendly benefits. When they become mothers, they face more scrutiny and prejudice on the job than fathers do.

We need to stop seeing work-family policy as a woman’s issue and start seeing it as a human rights issue that affects parents, children, partners, singles and elders.

Yes…we have come quite a way in gender equality since the 60’s and 70’s…but Baby, we’ve still got a long way to go!

 

Martha Lemasters is the author of “The Step…One Woman’s Journey to finding her own happiness and success during the Apollo Program.” She resides in Vero Beach FL and has a summer home in the Highlands area.

 

 

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Center, an Inadequate Portrayal of the Apollo Program

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Some of the many IBMers who worked at Cape Kennedy during the early 60's.

Some of the many IBMers who worked at Cape Kennedy during the early 60’s.

Have you ever visited the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center near Titusville? What did you think of it?

I recently visited and as a former member of the Launch Support Team at KSC during the 60’s and 70’s I found the visit to the Saturn V exhibit heart breaking. As I glanced at the vehicle there was no indications whatsoever of who the contractors were for each stage of the Saturn V. Apollo was a “team effort”; NASA did not accomplish this mission all by themselves! I brought family members to see where I worked…imagine my dismay when there is not one word anywhere about Boeing, North American, McDonnell-Douglas, IBM, etc.

When I worked at the Cape there were probably 17,000 people there, and out of that number only 3,000 were NASA employees. What about the rest of us? You’re talking about the greatest technological team ever assembled, achieving the most difficult challenge of all mankind to date!

The names of the astronauts will forever be inscribed in our history books, but the names of the entire Apollo Launch Support team will only be know to a few. Yet, here you are now dedicating an entire building to Heroes and Legends…again just about the astronauts.

If NASA really wants to get this place right…the history has to be right. Why not dedicate a whole wing to The Team, who after achieving an unbelievable goal of putting men on the moon within the 10-year limit set by Kennedy, performed in an exemplary manner…Possibly the greatest team ever assembled.

As a result of my letter, and I’m sure many others as well, NASA has now assigned plaques to each of the stages depicting the contractors’ names who were responsible!

 

 

 

Did you ever work on the Apollo Program? If you did, I consider you a part of the greatest engineering team ever assembled. That team achieved the most difficult engineering challenge of all mankind to date…you’re right up there in great achievements with the Allies who won World War II.

I’d love to hear about some of your Apollo experiences…what was your title…what did you specialize in? Where did you work? What happened to you after the Apollo Program ended? Where did you go? Contact me with your story at m.lemasters@icloud.com.