"I have a dream that my four 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." MLK was determined, hardworking, tolerant, and compassionate throughout his life. He showed great courage and perseverance through adversity. He showed initiative, integrity, creative thinking, as well as calculated risk taking. He also had a way with people and great passion for his work.
If you look at the most significant people throughout history, you'll see that they all possessed most, if not all of these same traits.
Success is about your self. Significance is about the impact you have on the lives of others. True value is not measure by how much money you make, it is measured by the size of the problem you can solve.
This week we've seen posts and studies that show that not only is success not the answer but by raising our children by solely stressing academic and sport achievement, we are setting our children up for a life of narcissism and materialism.
In today's world of greed, instant gratification and longing to have celebrity status, children still hold values higher than success.
A recent survey of over 1,000 teens conducted by Weekly Reader Research on behalf of The American Bible Society revealed that 63.7% of America's teens aged 12 to18 have heroes or role models. Twenty-two point three percent of all teens said honesty is the most important trait for a role model; 76.1% of girls said loyalty is an important quality while only 63.8% of boys agree.
Honesty and Loyalty.
As Dante pointed out in his post this week, ethics are not taught in schools. Where do children then learn the character traits that will prepare them for life?