Character
How has your winter been this year?
We are all in the middle of this time of the season.
Snow, rain, cold, dark skies.
Makes you want to stay inside and to find that thing that comforts you.
Hot chocolate does it for some.
For others, mac & cheese, maybe a crackling fire, a favorite book to read, some heartwarming music.
We all know that this season will pass and we know ahead of us lies the Spring.
We will change our garments to shake off the warm clothes and welcome the return of the sun.
Life comes in cycles which have been recognized by all peoples the world over.
What if a group of people didn't want the Spring to come?
What if this group of people wanted it to be winter all year long?
What would you ask these people why they want it to be winter all the time?
What would you do?
Character.
Character is a lost word in our 21st-century society.
For many, it is defined by the celebrity.
Character is recognized as the person who stands out from the crowd.
Character defined as the remarkable individual.
That's one definition, but it is not the origin of what the word Character means.
To have Character the individual lives by a set of moral principles recognized and defined by the society at large.
A real way to know if a person has Character is when adversity strikes.
You lose your job, what do you do?
Do you immediately take drugs and alcohol and soon die from an opioid overdose?
That person has no character.
Your wife dies you leaving you penniless.
Do you rob a bank to get back the money you believe you are owed?
That person has no character.
A woman is going through a lousy divorce do you hit on her for sex?
That person has no character.
A person with Character will not sit idly by when presented by adversity.
A person with Character will not turn their backs when injustice strikes.
A person with Character can be anyone big or small, young or old, wealthy or poor.
It is not just one definition of Character that can respond to injustice.
We celebrate the differences.
Each and everyone has a responsibility, a privilege to stand against injustice.
There are those without Character who seek to profit from adversity.
They sow seeds of fear, of anger, of myth.
Their gratification is in creating as much turmoil as they can.
They enjoy spreading the darkness, the cold of an eternal winter of the soul.
Hold up in a cave of white stone they blow ill winds of deceit.
However, you want to know something.
They're just some old silly bear afraid of the change of season.
Their eyes strain at the brightness at the newness of the world to come.
No matter how much they may growl and howl and grit their teeth, they can't stop the Spring from coming.
They can't stop justice and equality for all.
Why?
Why because the universe itself bends towards justice.
No old bear in the White House can stop or will ever stop the rollout of justice.
Character.
– I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their Character.
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Peace
DFrey