Character Building and Risk Taking

What is exciting in my life? Hhmm not much. I was fighting a cold/allergies (I can’t really tell which) earlier this week which among other things made me dead tired. Sleep is my cure for any sort of feeling under the weather, so I have slept a lot and feel a lot better today. Ballet last night was great. We had the sub again, and I just find her teaching style to be so much better. I can’t really articulate the differences, but she is just a better teacher. I learn more in her class. Oh, I am paying off my car this morning. That is exciting. 4 years later and I finally own the Hondie.

I saw something interesting on HBO last night. It was a round-table discussion (I think it was a few years old) with Sam Donaldson, Burt Reynolds, Bob Woodward, the presidents of Stanford and U of Penn and various PhDs. The topics varied but the section I watched was on character. I think it might have been after the Clinton scandal because there was some talk about public figure heads and character etc. It was encouraging to see something link that on TV. When in our society do we have a discourse about character? It was enlightening really. Sam Donaldson talked about how he felt that those who have a lot of character in life have been taught that you simply don’t always get what you want and that you must work hard. Others talked about the fallacy that people think the world owes them something. Later on—I am not sure if this in the character section or not—one of the professors talked about our society and our generation specifically is afraid to take risks. He said we are the brightest, most-endowed generation with more access and ability than any other previous generation, but we are afraid. We are afraid to fulfill our true destiny and do anything out of a societal-imposed view that you must go to college, get the “good job” (who cares if you really like it), buy the house, get married and have the kids. He was astonished at the power that this model of life had on people and how so many young people he encountered were afraid to take risks. I always think of people our age as risk takers, but may it is not the case. Though a lot of it was his opinion, it was very thought provoking.