FWIW # 4 Adversity and Character April 2020

The old saying goes, “Adversity builds character.” That is questionable. Draw a mental picture of people carrying adversity on their shoulders, building muscle and determination steadily as the miles and time go by. Doesn’t seem right, does it? What allows someone to shoulder the burden of adversity in the first place? Most of the time, life is good and full of progress and happiness. Some individuals, when either a personal or societal disaster hits, are overwhelmed by the disruption, while others find a way to deal with the abrupt and negative events. Some trait or factor that enabled them to do this had to be in place before adversity reared its ugly head. The adapters find within themselves the attitude, the smarts, and the determination to bend but not break. Why is that? A person’s attitude and approach to life is a habit, built through disciplined action for years. Habits can be bad as well as good. People with character have formed good habits. They begin to adjust to whatever is happening, seeking a way over, under, or around an obstacle as they move forward and look for the good in a situation.

Character is a trait that is only seen in the actions of people. Here are some examples of character in the past few weeks:

1. The incredible focus of health care workers to assist individuals going through a hard and unknown physical crisis.

2. The first responders who fearlessly walk into situations where they interact with sick people and the health care system.

3. The citizen soldiers in both the regular military and the National Guard who serve the country while their own families are at risk and surviving without them.

4. Local, state, and federal government leaders who had the current crisis foist on them and are making decisions in real time to protect their populations and economies. These leaders have no historical experience to guide them in making these decisions. They do their best and adjust to the changing events.

5. Families across America who look out for their neighbors, helping them through the crisis.

6. Line workers in food, transportation, and utilities who go to work every day to keep the basic economy operating.

Now, contrast those examples with the following:

1. College students on the beaches ignoring the mandate to maintain social distance and shelter in place, exposing more people to the deadly virus.

2. Individuals going into stores and deliberately coughing and spitting on produce and other goods.

3. People hoarding necessary materials and offering them for resale at very high prices.

4. People fleeing high-risk locations and going to low-risk locations without knowing or caring if they are infected and without self-quarantining for 14 days.

5. Politicians who hold up needed relief legislation so their pet non-crisis causes can get special funding.

6. The three U.S. senators who were self-quarantining because they were exposed to an infected senator. These senators were not tested and they chose to be unavailable for the most important legislative vote of their career. They could have been tested, easily wore masks, and kept social distancing on the floor of the Senate to make their votes count.

7. Elected congressional members who sold securities after attending a confidential briefing on the potential negative economic impact of the virus.

8. The state governor who countermanded local officials’ decisions, putting the local communities at greater risk of virus spread.

9. The state governor who deliberately ignored a state health advisory committee in 2015, recommending a program of buying and stockpiling respiratory ventilators. Now he is criticizing the federal government for not sending his state enough ventilators to handle his state’s projected pandemic crisis.

10. Those who are second-guessing what has been done to protect the country but who did not have the responsibility and burden of making these complex decisions in real time.

11. The rich Ivy League universities and large businesses who sought and found a loophole in the small business relief package and collected tens of millions of dollars that should have gone to true small businesses.

Character is easy to see but hard to define. Is it meeting adversity with actions that are selfless? Not necessarily. It may be responding to adversity without considering the actions’ impact on self; yet the decision-maker may benefit from the actions. A health care worker gets paid while others are out of work. A local official who decides to implement a shelter-in-place order will benefit if the official and their family do so and don’t catch the virus. Is it taking actions that are clearly right? No. Adversity is not simple. It is complex to the point that the risks of making a decisive mistake are equal to the potential for making the right decision.

Is character generic or developmental? What causes an individual to look at all the factors in a situation and choose the one that is best for everyone? The Oxford English Dictionary lists 19 different definitions of the word character. Two fit what is exhibited in adverse times: The sum of the moral and mental qualities which distinguish an individual. Moral qualities strongly developed or strikingly displayed. These definitions imply that character is more developmental than generic. The relation to development assumes the individual absorbed the qualities of good character from their surroundings and contacts while growing up. That’s not necessarily true. Many individuals grow up in atrocious environments yet display stalwart character in adverse times. How did their development impart the right influences to them? There must be some generic DNA seed within individuals that is nurtured in some way to filter in the right influences and strengthen the right traits. Does this mean only a limited number of individuals have this DNA component? No. That possibility is not logical. It could be that everyone has this key trait enabler within them. That makes more sense. So, good character is available to everyone. As with many aspects of the human condition, perhaps some individuals block out, consciously or unconsciously, the positive influences that build character in favor of the influences that give them an unwarranted edge in a situation. That makes more sense. We are all born with the potential for good or bad character.

There is another aspect of good character. It seems a person may exhibit good character in some situations and not others. For instance, a golfer who decides to take two or three mulligans when playing may be the pillar of strength who displays the right character in more serious situations. Perhaps the magnitude of a given situation impacts how some people respond to adversity. Certainly after 9/11, the political infighting and backbiting in Washington evaporated for a time as the country came together for a common cause. Even now, the incredible backbiting incompetence of Congress has taken a backseat and Congress members have come together, making compromises neither side wanted, to craft a rescue package for the country.

So, the old saying is, “Adversity builds character.” Perhaps it should be stated another way: Adversity shows who has character and who does not.

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