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All poems: copyright by
Nicholas Gordon
Free scrapbook poems
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1. Character is made up of the virtues that
engender trust--honesty, integrity, loyalty, courage, self-discipline, and
devotion.
2. Trust is the greatest external reward for
good character, although the internal rewards are greater. If one is in business,
trust is a commodity of inestimable value, while if one is in love, it is
the house in which one lives.
3. Trust is hard-earned and easily lost, as one
lie or act of disloyalty can throw into question years of honesty and fidelity.
But a consistently good character can stand a bit of
battering.
4. Society requires a certain level of trust
to function, which is why societies that value good character function better
than those that don't. For wealth comes from productive labor, which requires
order and cooperation, which require trust.
5. Thus each person of good character is a
contributor to the general wealth and happiness, and each person of bad character
is a detriment. As a model for one's family, friends, and acquaintances,
one multiplies one's character, good or bad, throughout society, and so each
individual, perhaps more than is commonly realized, is truly responsible
for the proper functioning of society, upon which the personal well-being
of all depends.
6. The greatest internal reward for good character
is self-esteem, which, although enhanced by the comments of others, sits
squarely upon the rock of one's self-evaluation. And because one trusts those
of good character oneself, one knows very well whether one is oneself trustworthy
and in possession of those qualities that win the esteem of others. The greatest
penalty for bad character, then, is low self-esteem, rarely admitted even
to oneself, but still the source of much internal suffering.
7. Another internal reward for good character
is idealism, since when one knows that one is oneself capable of pursuing
virtue, one is more likely to see that capability in others and to have faith
in the power of human activity to improve life. The corresponding penalty
for bad character is cynicism, since one refuses to see the possibility of
goodness in anyone as an excuse for the lack of it in
oneself.
8. Both idealism and cynicism are self-fulfilling
prophesies, the one spiraling upward, the other downward, as one's own activity
and perception create evidence of their truth. Thus one makes a heaven or
hell of one's existence through one's choice of character, which means that
one is always free to remake it, though slowly and with
difficulty.
Next: The Practice
of Wisdom: Patience, Tolerance, and Humor
Previous: The Practice of Wisdom:
Habit
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