V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #23: Character

~ V.J. Knutson

It’s a funny thing, character, the way it brands people
as they age rising from within to leave its scar
– Kate Morton, The Distant Hours

The school board I worked for introduced an initiative to promote character education in the classroom.  Acceptance, caring, honesty, respect, empathy, perseverance, and responsibility were among the traits targeted.  At the start of each week, I would introduce a character trait and then weave it through the lessons, offering students an opportunity to apply and learn.  Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it was like hitting my head against a brick wall.  It led me to question how character is developed.

In literature, a character is established and demonstrated one of four ways:

  1. through dialogue – what the character says
  2. through their thoughts – what they don’t say
  3. through their actions
  4. by what others say about them

Could we apply this same process to people?  Impossible, of course, to know what anyone is thinking, but the summation of words plus actions plus how a person is perceived surely makes up character.

Kate Morton’s line from The Distant Hours struck me enough to write it down.  The idea that character can rise up and “leave its scar” made me ponder.  I thought immediately of an old aunt of mine, long deceased.  A crusty individual who saw the world in terms of black and white, and yet who in her older years revealed herself as rather grey.

Much to think about this week, and I can’t wait to see what you come up.

In the meantime, I thought I’d leave you with one more quotation:

images

To Participate:

  1.  Create a blog post on your own site or leave a contribution in the comments below.
  2. Tag your post with VJWC
  3. Link back to this posting or leave a link in the comments.
  4. Read and comment on other contributions.

Published by V.J. Knutson

Permission to write, paint, and imagine are the gifts I gave myself when chronic illness hit - a fair exchange: being for doing. Relevance is an attitude. Humour essential.

26 thoughts on “V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #23: Character”

  1. Pingback: A Bevy of Characters – One Woman's Quest II
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  4. Pingback: Nov 9 – 15 Listing of this Week’s Photochallenges – On Blogging

  5. I put up a post of a mural, stenciled letters of names and words, being painted on Monday (vet’s day) on a man’s yard’s wall because he remembers. Some people choose to remember and some choose to forget. I think that says something about character too. So I’m adding it as a pingback.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. Pingback: Appearances – One Woman's Quest II
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  8. Pingback: #VJWC: If I was an Ice Cream Flavor… – Culture Shocks
  9. Pingback: Peril of Good Character | Somewhere Sea
  10. Pingback: Leave Me Alone – Proscenium

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