Anytime, that a person perceives that an organization is unfair to them, another person is unfair to them, or life in general is unfair to them, there is an inherent and natural tendency to want to make things right. So that if you feel, for example, that you are underpaid there is a certain predilection to want to perform your work duties in such a manner that you appear to be working harder than what you really are. If, for instance, another person clearly takes advantage of you in a personal or business affair, there often is a desire to want to get even with that person, one way or another. Further, if life is treating you wrong, there is a strong wish to see that things are rectified, somehow or another. In all of these things, your opportunity to present yourself as a person of integrity, despite being in circumstances that are unfair or uncomfortable or biased against you, is often pushed up against your desire to strike back, frequently, without taking into full account the ramifications of doing so. Too often we are quick to judge, quick to react, way too quick, and an action in motion, good or bad, cannot be taken back.
Many people are quick to point out when they see that a certain person or company is corrupt, but often are rather slow to admit or to recognize their own shortcomings. But the fact of the matter is, we seldom can control other people or organizations, but we do have the power to control ourselves and how we react to various undesirable things and circumstances. We have all heard it said that "two wrongs don't make a right", yet how few of us really believe this in our actions. In order for anybody to become dishonest, there is at some point, a conscious decision to do something that clearly is wrong, with perhaps the justification that this is payback, or a form of justice, or liberty, or whatever. Yet, having taken this action you have not actually resolved anything in a manner bespeaking a person of integrity.
Bad things are going to happen, and while life is not about being a floor mat for people to walk and trample upon, it also isn't about always retaliating against those that wrong you. So often people want to justify their response to a perceived wrong or slight, as if that self-made justification will somehow make it all seem right, but oftentimes it really does not. When one person drops to a low level of cheating, backbiting, gossip, and hurtful words, you do not need to directly respond back to it, you do not need to add fuel to the fire, and often should not do so. Rather, look at the actions taken against you as a challenge, as a puzzle, to be solved, through rightful actions and careful contemplation. Always try to give yourself the opportunity to rise above the fray, to put yourself in the other person's shoes, to recognize that someone that is slow to anger, that can maintain emotional control of themselves, is a person that is master of himself, and often a man of real integrity.