{"id":26038,"date":"2020-08-24T04:00:52","date_gmt":"2020-08-24T10:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/?p=26038"},"modified":"2023-08-29T11:28:27","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T17:28:27","slug":"in-search-of-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/in-search-of-character\/","title":{"rendered":"In Search of Character"},"content":{"rendered":"

Character Formation<\/h3>\n

To set the stage for this article, it is necessary to reveal something of my dark past: I once got into trouble in high school!<\/p>\n

It was an incident involving my entire homeroom class. The teacher didn\u2019t show up, and we kids seized the opportunity to goof off.<\/p>\n

Apparently, it was noisy enough to get the principal\u2019s attention. This was back in the \u201870s in Jamaica where punishment was still being administered corporally in public schools, so his arrival at our homeroom naturally prompted fear.<\/p>\n

But his reaction caught the class off guard. He quietly walked to the front of the room, sat on the edge of the teacher\u2019s desk, crossed his arms, and simply stared at us.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t a look of anger or disgust; it was one of surprise and disappointment. And it didn\u2019t last long, though it seemed like an eternity.<\/p>\n

Learning Character from Punishment<\/h3>\n

Then he arose, wrote our punishment on the chalkboard, and then turned around to face the class again.<\/p>\n

This time he caught me off guard. Singling me out by name, he summoned me to his office for what I was sure would be a \u201ccome to Jesus moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it turned out he had something else in mind, something that has had a profound impact on my life to this day.<\/p>\n

Minutes later when he arrived, he opened an office drawer and removed a sheet of paper. After expressing disappointment in the behavior of the class and surprise that I was involved in such antics, he handed me the paper and gave me a week to memorize its contents.<\/p>\n

To my teenage mind, this was great relief. Instead of punishment, all I had to do was memorize something!<\/p>\n

But the older I got, the more I understood and have appreciated what my principal intended by his actions that day.<\/p>\n

Honing Character in Leaders<\/h3>\n

You see, I was singled out because of my role in student government<\/a>. I was the school\u2019s head boy! I did not yet know the Bible verse which says, \u201cTo whom much is given, much is required<\/em>,\u201d but my principal either knew it or held some similar conviction.<\/p>\n

So without saying it, he cast a vision<\/a> for my life that day. He beckoned me to bring my posture into alignment with my position, match calling with conduct, set my sights on something higher and nobler than I had engaged in with the rest of my classmates.<\/p>\n

Knowing How to Reach Potential Leaders<\/h3>\n

So, what was on that sheet of paper? Rudyard Kipling\u2019s poem, If.<\/em> I had never heard of Kipling or his poem. But it fell into a tender crevice of my heart the first time I read it, and has remained there ever since. Here it is:<\/p>\n

If<\/h4>\n

If you can keep your head when all about you<\/p>\n

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,<\/p>\n

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,<\/p>\n

But make allowance for their doubting too;<\/p>\n

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,<\/p>\n

Or being lied about, don\u2019t deal in lies,<\/p>\n

Or being hated, don\u2019t give way to hating,<\/p>\n

And yet don\u2019t look too good, nor talk too wise:<\/p>\n

If you can dream\u2014and not make dreams your master;<\/p>\n

If you can think\u2014and not make thoughts your aim;<\/p>\n

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster<\/p>\n

And treat those two impostors just the same;<\/p>\n

If you can bear to hear the truth you\u2019ve spoken<\/p>\n

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,<\/p>\n

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,<\/p>\n

And stoop and build them up with worn-out tools:<\/p>\n

If you can make one heap of all your winnings<\/p>\n

And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,<\/p>\n

And lose, and start again at your beginnings<\/p>\n

And never breathe a word about your loss;<\/p>\n

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew<\/p>\n

To serve your turn long after they are gone,<\/p>\n

And so hold on when there is nothing in you<\/p>\n

Except the Will which says to them: \u2018Hold on!\u2019<\/p>\n

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,<\/p>\n

Or walk with Kings\u2014nor lose the common touch,<\/p>\n

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,<\/p>\n

If all men count with you, but none too much;<\/p>\n

If you can fill the unforgiving minute<\/p>\n

With sixty seconds\u2019 worth of distance run,<\/p>\n

Yours is the Earth and everything that\u2019s in it,<\/p>\n

And\u2014which is more\u2014you\u2019ll be a Man, my son!<\/p>\n

Work in Progress<\/h3>\n

Needless to say, I\u2019m still a work in progress<\/a>. But having a clear frame of reference, a paradigm for how I really want to live my life, gives me something to strive toward and has been priceless in my efforts at character formation.<\/p>\n

Captured in a single sentence, it\u2019s about becoming a person of rock-solid character.<\/p>\n

[bctt tweet=” It’s about becoming a person of rock-solid character. – Whaid Rose”]<\/p>\n

And as our nation grapples with the effects of a global pandemic<\/a>, an economic recession, and widespread civil unrest, the need for character-based leadership<\/a> has never been greater. The literary folktale about the emperor with no clothes is unwittingly re-enacted daily before our eyes.<\/p>\n

Character Flaws<\/h3>\n

Considering, then, that character flaws in leaders<\/a> tend to replicate themselves in the cultures such leaders represent, and since the meaning of character is a moving target in today\u2019s relativistic and politically charged world, this article is the first in a series aimed at hammering out a concise Bible-based definition of this important word.<\/p>\n

Herbert Spencer, the English philosopher, rightly observed that \u201cNot education, but character, is man\u2019s greatest need, and man\u2019s greatest safeguard.\u201d<\/p>\n

So thank you, Dr. Godfrey Dennis, for sending a teenage student in search of character. And thank God, he\u2019s still on the journey!<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Whaid Rose<\/p>\n

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