Does Character Matter

What is the true essence of a human being? What's left when you take away the makeup and the clothes and the labels and the societal standards? What remains when you take away the mask? All that's left is the deep grit of the soul inside us all; all that's left is character. So what exactly is character? According to dictionary.com, character is defined as "an account of the qualities or peculiarities of a person or thing; mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual." Once we understand what character is, we must ask ourselves yet another question. Why does character matter? There are many attributes of character, but there are ten that most people are familiar with: citizenship, compassion, courage, gratitude, honesty, perseverance,
respect, responsibility, self-discipline, and trust. While each of these attributes reside in each person, they don't so much affect us, but rather they affect the people around us. Character is about how we treat other people. When taking time to consider each of these attributes, one may recognize that these ten things are ten of the hardest things a human being can set forth to achieve. However, the struggle to find our individual character was not intended to be easy. Helen Keller put it this way; "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspires, and success achieved." The fact that character is a difficult thing to achieve is part of what makes it beautiful.
Thus, we stumble upon the one of many ways in which character matters. Character is a struggle, and the battles life forces us to fight make us strong. Henry Ford once said that "Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves we endure help us in our marching onward." The building of character is the hard part; the places we can go and the things we can accomplish once we've built it are easy feats in comparison. When life gets hard, character is what refuses to let our feet stop carrying us down the path that is in
store. While character is of great importance, it can't happen overnight. Like all things in life that are worth accomplishing, it takes a great deal of practice, determination, and devotion. Heraclitus said this about the formation of character- "Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character." Building character is like building muscle. Steven Covey said "just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition- such as lifting weights- we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity When we look at the ten common attributes of character, there is undoubtedly a common theme among them; they are interrelated by their ties to the good we can do.
Character matters because it's the good each of us does in the lives of those around us. Unlike many things that seem to be important in modern society- beauty, status, wealth, and the like- character isn't a mask for us to hide behind; in fact, it's quite the opposite. Character is what you have when you take away every imaginable mask. If humanity was to be stripped of everything that matters outwardly, all that would be left is character. Character is the bare
bones. Character is about how we treat other people. It is a difficult thing to achieve, but that's part of why it's a beautiful thing to have. Building character is like building muscles; it's okay if it doesn't happen overnight. Character comes down to the good we can do for other. But most importantly, character is raw. Character isn't a mask to hide behind, but rather what exists when you take away the masks. What matters when you take away everything a person has on the outside? Character matters.