“Go stand at the crossroads and look around. Ask for directions to the old road, the tried-and-true road. Then take it. Discover the right route for your souls. But they said, ‘Nothing doing. We aren’t going that way.’
It’s hard not to notice but we are in the middle of a crisis in character in our society. While it’s true that the problem of character issues have been with us from the beginning of time, sometimes, it just seems like there has been a ramping up of this great dilemma of people from many walks of life who struggle with the issue of character.
While it is foolhardy to put complete faith and trust in our governments, we the people elected our officials and there is a reasonable expectation that our elected officials should be trying to the best of their ability pursue a life of great character but that isn’t the case in many instances.
Here in Canada, we are now in the middle of a crisis as it is coming to light that the present federal government tried to strong-arm the minister of justice into altering a decision for a company they favored so that in the end, it would also help them get votes in the coming general election.
We have officials who, to curry favor with the flavor of the month topic will say in direct opposition to what they formerly espoused, “my views have evolved” which, many times is code word for, “I want your vote”. To go with the “feels good moment of the day”.
Or the very thing they may have voted for or against in the past was the right thing to do but now, because there is currency in trying to be on the “new side”, they will say and do whatever it is to look like they are “Lit” or “Hip” in the moment.
Leaders who run, manage, lead businesses, schools, shops, stores etc. and treat their employees, staff with blatant disregard or flat out unacceptable behavior but because of their position, they seem to be able to act many times with impunity, causing hurt, frustration, destruction sometimes pushing those they’ve been “pushing” past their breaking points.
I’ve always found it hard to fathom when people, who have made a vow or promise, be it in a marriage or a friendship and then at some point, (other than for infidelity, abuse, a crippling addiction of any kind that creates a legitimate danger or risk etc.) a person decides to walk and will say how things didn’t matter or some excuse to excuse the behavior.
Those pieces they leave behind many times are not just pieces but shards of emotional glass that are hard to repair if it all sometimes.
Or that person we looked up to, admired, could even have been a mentor, leader, someone we said we would like to be like and then find out that what they said outwardly in no way matched to who they really were so in the end, they were not one and the same.
How many times has a person in a position of authority diverted funds from a company or from trusting people for their own benefit so they could get “just a little but more” and decimated the lives of those they’ve stolen from?
While comical on the surface, here in Montreal, we have yearly road mending and resurfacing. Meaning, our winters are not easy on the roads and many a car has felt the wrath of terrible pot holes, sink holes etc.
And you would think that after all of these years, the paving companies could get it right but why? They make lots of money every year fixing the same roads they fixed the year before so until there is a will from “those who can do something about it” to call them to account, why not make a few more bucks on our spring road mending ritual and the taxpayers keep paying for the same thing over and over again.?
There are many examples when thinking about Character in crisis today but there must be something to pull us back to reality for a quick minute.
Character comes out in many forums and situations but it always boils down to how we think and what is inside of us because how we think basically is who we are.
Aristotle said that character is defined as the decisions a person makes when the choice is not obvious. Many have said that character is the way we act when nobody’s looking.
Dad would say, quoting Tennyson that “To your own self be true and then it would be really hard to be false to any man/woman”.
It’s not saying that I have my own truth because we are not the truth but living life in a manner that is honest, a life filled with integrity.
There is a verse that says “those who are noble make noble plans, and stand for what is noble”. Noble has many meanings but here are some: honorable, principled, decent, upright, considerate, benevolent etc.
I know I can’t change someone else but I can do something about me; I’ve always thought it important that if one finds me on the road side, the office, the market, the king’s palace or the soup kitchen, they will find the same person in every scenario.
This proverb kind of sums up a way to combat Character In Crisis on a personal level; it works globally but really, real change always starts one person at a time.
Our society really needs an uptick in Character growth but it starts with One… I’m trying to be One; who will join me?
The wisdom of the wise keeps life on track; the foolishness of fools lands them in the ditch. The unwise ridicule right and wrong, but a moral life is a favored life.
On the road to better days...
Dave
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