Character

I always wondered what makes one person to behave in one way and another person to act/react in another way when they are put in the same situation.

Does it have to do with the person’s values, his upbringing or his experiences that lead him to act in one way or the other?

I now have a view that a person’s character has a lot to do with his behavior or actions in various situations.

What is Character?

Character, according to me, is the basic foundation of values, beliefs that a person builds over a period of time.

People often use the term “Character” in their reference to people they know.

Take an example – Mohit has a STRONG character – what does this mean? Strong –does this mean the physical appearance of Mohit? Does this mean that this person is dominant over others?

 To me, it means that the person’s actions are unquestionable even when he is put in the toughest of the situations. His values are unshakable, he doesn’t flinch when presented with a tough choice, he would not make a wrong choice as an option just because it is easy or no one is over his shoulder watching him!!

How many times  have we encountered situations where a vegetable vendor, an autorickshaw /taxi driver has given back more than the required cash ? What did we do?

Did we return the money saying that this is extra money or did we quietly slide the cash into our pockets and purses thinking that the vendor/taxi driver was anyway charging more than required and he deserved to lose this money. Now, what does this qualify us as?

We build our own character based on our actions, our values and our beliefs.

Character building can be best taught by our own conscience as this is the only judge which is a witness to all our actions – Good or bad.

Now,the most difficult part is to CHOOSE and CHOOSE the RIGHT approach

Choose to follow our values.

Choose to tread on a difficult path

Choose to learn

Choose to say NO

Choose your friends

It is very important to make a CHOICE.

Take an analogy.

For a question “Have you lied in your CV” that has been asked by an interviewer, we have a choice to to say– YES, NO or MAYBE – but I don’t remember  or choose to remain silent.

When do we choose to say YES, NO, MAYBE or SILENT is based on the interviewee’s character of facing that situation.

Now, can we improve our Character?

I can cite the example of Benjamin Franklin, who devised for himself a plan for building his character. He identified thirteen character qualities that he felt needed to be better developed in his own life and devised a method of focusing his attention on each of those qualities for one week at a time. Thus, during a year’s time Mr. Franklin would go through his entire list four times.You can read his autobiography to get better insights.

What do we learn from the actions of Benjamin Franklin? That we need to FOCUS on each of our character qualities and how it has impacted us or people around us in a positive or a negative manner.

The final analysis
We can recognize the vital importance of character to the success of our lives, our jobs, the organizations to which we belong, and to our country and world, and we can seek to influence the part of the world that we touch to become involved in developing better character. Many resources are available to us. If we CHOOSE to use them, we can make a difference to our own lives, in our families,in our neighbourhood,in our country and ultimately, in our world.