We are ultimately defined by the decisions that we so make, which may or may not be consistent with the things that we claim to believe in and to represent. After all, good words without the corresponding actions that reflect those words, are indicative of someone that does not have the character to follow-through of what they have so said and claimed. So too, actions that belie the words so spoken, are indicative that there is a wholesale inconsistency between those words and those actions. Those then, that are of good character, have first of all the right ethical values – and further to the point, will uphold those ethical values, when put to the test of such. In other words, to be of good character, one really does have to walk the walk that is consistent with that talk.
Those that are of good character, are the very type of people that we can trust will make the best decisions that need to be made, and will not then, waver, in those most difficult of times, when it is of the upmost importance to do the right thing. On the other hand, there are plenty of people, that have pretty good character, most of the time, but when really put to the test, in which this so defines who they really are, and thereby their actual worth, find themselves in the most trying of cases, far too often failing to do the right thing, because of cowardice, or fearfulness, lack of integrity, or of selfishness. Then there are those others that aren’t of good character, most of the time, which we so find, that because we know such, we therefore are, at least, not fooled by them.
To be of good character is to be about as good as a person can really be; because, in life, there is always going to be a plentitude of fair-weather friends, or those that are loyal to us, until they are not; whereas, we find that with someone that is true, we will, at a minimum, know where we stand, and whether or not they stand with us, based upon what is so involved, so of. In life, we are going to be tested, again and again, and it is in those tests, that we truly define who and what we really are. Those then, that fail to be a stand-up person, are going to thus have to keep facing what needs to be faced, until they learn how to do the right thing, or else, go down to defeat, in the sure knowledge, that when provided with the opportunity, to prove their merit, did not.
One can judge a given person’s success, upon an awful lot of things, of which, for some people, they are prone to doing so by observing the accouterments of that person’s material success, or perhaps their social status, as well – in which, the true character of that person, good or bad, takes a back seat to the perceived prosperity or social success of that individual. On the other hand, a far more meaningful way to judge a given person’s success, is by their character, so demonstrated by that particular individual in the things that they so do and say, day in and day out – and, of which, for those that are known by their good character, they have thus achieved and obtained the most important characteristic of them all.