Enduring Character

"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars " - Khalil Gibran

Character is an essential element of who we are and how we are seen and judged by the world. It represents who we are, what our values are, and what we have been through. Like a race car with "patina", our character represents our battle scars, our victories and our defeats. Character does matter. And when I speak of character, I am not referring to the kind of false morality proffered by TV instapundits or TV evangalists. Character is a larger representation of who we are at our core. It is the core of our values, our honesty, our integrity, our willingness to stand for the truth, and our ability to do what is right and to suffer the consequences even if there is an easier path out.

We as a society are in love with strong durable character. We love the ideal of truth. We love the ideal of strength. The biggest problem is that strong durable character is a rare commodity for us all and is why we are drawn to these strong characters. We all remember people in our lives like this: the uncle who spoke truth to power, a colleague who refused to blur the line of truth in a sales call, or a friend who is willing to tell you the hard truth even if it risks the relationship. Some are heroes and some are every day people going from pay check to pay check. These people matter in our society. They are the foundation of our strength, the ones who make a difference.

All of us face situations calling for us to compromise ourselves and to sell a small part of our hard won character. These situations face us in varying degrees and on an almost daily basis. We almost always know, by virtue of our internal moral compass, what is right and what is wrong but our minds might like us to believe otherwise. Strong character is what keeps us from selling our souls for a quicker less painful solution. One thing is certain, when faced with an ethical or moral dilemma and you have multiple choices, doing the right thing is almost always the harder thing to do. Know yourself, know what you stand for and stand your ground. The world needs your strong character.