Years ago I was talking to about 50 Army generals responsible for weapons and equipment purchases. When I raised the issue of professional integrity, one of them reminded me there's a big gap between the way things are and the way they ought to be.

"Look, if the chairman of the Appropriations Committee comes from a district that makes trucks," he said, "we're going to buy those trucks whether or not they're the best."

I suggested that was bribery. Without missing a beat, he said, "That's not bribery -- it's extortion!" The implication was, if they didn't cater to the politicians, they would pay a high price.

He then added, "That's the way it is, the way it always was, and the way it always will be."

"How can you sound so powerless?" I asked. "You're a general."

"Yeah," he said, "but I'm only a one-star."

I'm only a one-star. I hear this abdication of moral responsibility a lot.

Later I heard a similar claim of helplessness from a middle manager who protested my appeal to moral courage. "Do you really expect someone with a well-paying job and heavy family obligations to put it all at risk?"

"Yes, I do," I replied. "There are lots of people who would rather lose their job than their integrity." More than ever we need people to stand up and be counted.

When there's a gap between ideals and reality, people of character don't surrender their ideals. They fight for them. They work to change the way things are to the way they ought to be.

As Edward Everett Hale said, "It's true I am only one, but I am one. And the fact that I can't do everything will not prevent me from doing what I can do."

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.