How do you measure commitment?

How do you measure commitment? Integrity? Beliefs? The Buddhist monks of the Hong Hock See Temple in Malaysia have been faced with an interesting and for some a dangerous situation.

In the past month the Buddhist temple have been infested with poisonous red ants. The ant situation has become aggressive enough where on worshipper was already sent to the hospital for excessive bites.

Most if not everyone we know would have called an exterminator, sprayed RAID, stomped, squished, drowned, burned, or done anything imaginable to remove the ants. Yet the Buddhist monks are bound by a belief of nonviolence and have maintained actions that have yet to deviate from their belief. They have demonstrated integrity by minimizing the gap between beliefs and actions.

Current efforts to remove the ants peacefully have not been successful. It would be quite easy, when the temple is closed from the worshipers, to secretly react in a way (that would make Tony Soprano proud), where no one would know and remove the ants.

And where would that leave commitment? Integrity? Beliefs?

When was the last time you had the opportunity to demonstrate integrity? To practice the application of beliefs and actions?