Integrity: It's the right choice

Orlando R. Barone

is a freelance writer in Doylestown

Not long after the Oscar nominations were announced, I just had to go see the year's must-see movie, American Hustle, with such stars as Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale, and the universally acclaimed Jennifer Lawrence.

Sure enough, the flick was about how everybody in America hustles everybody, from pole dancers to FBI agents, from Mafia dons and pompadoured mayors to senators and, of course, professional hustlers. Who's kidding whom? Or better, who isn't?

The hustle theme continued as I decided to treat myself to a second feature that evening. I turned on the TV and found a movie I'd always intended to watch but hadn't yet. It was Say Anything from 1989.

The film involved an apparently loving dad whose high school valedictorian daughter wins a European fellowship and falls in love with a kickboxer. Dad also cares for elders in a nursing home he has run for more than 20 years.

But there's a twist. Caring dad also bilks those elders of their savings, deprives them of their estates, and hides the money in a jewelry box at home. "Everything is perfect," he assures his daughter shortly before she discovers he has hustled not only the lonely elders but his own naïve daughter. She's not the only one who discovers his dual life. By movie's end, caring dad is in prison.

Between the two movies I was treated to a clip of quarterback Peyton Manning doing a post-playoff game interview. Asked what his plans were, he said something like, "Well, right now I'd just want to go home and have a Bud Light." Turns out Bud Light is an official sponsor of the NFL. American hustle indeed.

Lest my high horse reach the ozone layer, I began musing on the fact that I teach negotiation to executives at a major university. Negotiation. Is that just a nice word for hustling? Sure, I promote integrity and credibility throughout, but still.

Then there are those MBA students I've been coaching, the ones who come to me asking how they can enhance their presence so they are "perceived as leaders." Be yourself, I counsel, but be your best self. I never thought I countenanced hustling, but I think I'll be hitting the integrity theme a bit harder.

The day after the double feature, I was confronted by my 2-year-old granddaughter. "Pop Pop," Lila said, batting those large lovely eyes and holding up my box of breath mints. "Can I have two?"

"No," I countered wisely. "You can only have one." "Aw-wight," she said sweetly, and ran off with her prize: one mint. It was mere seconds later I remembered that her mom didn't want her ingesting these sugarless mints at all. When she asked for two, I forgot the ban in my fervor to teach her not to be greedy. Another American hustle by little Lila, a budding master.

Scams and hustles, as the nominated movie reveals, have little to do with what is right or wrong. A mayor who loves his family and his constituency goes to jail; a murderous mobster continues life in the lap of Miami luxury; an FBI agent plays by the rules and is ruined; the original scammers, who never once attempted something legal, saunter off free and happy.

American Hustle's 2014 take suggests that integrity is impossible in a world of pathetic humans squirming for the tiniest advantage. I prefer the 1989 version of Say Anything, where character is rewarded and iniquity punished, at least some of the time.

Of course, a successful hustle always requires two actors: a devious scammer and her gullible grandfather. Integrity, however, requires only one: a person who chooses it. Integrity, I came to see, won't make your life easier. Just simpler.