Who Are You? BY RICH DUBOSE
J
ohn Wooden, former basketball coach and leadership author, once wrote: “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what
you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” Someone else said, “Character is what you do when no one else is watching.” Such times reveal what a person is really like. When we strip away all of the pretense and the veneer that we put on our public faces, that is who we really are. And the less disparity there is between who we say we are and who we actually are, the more authentic and powerful our influence becomes. The word character doesn’t just describe individuals. It can also be used to define a school, church, company, community, or nation. America has a character, which at times has been viewed with both praise and disdain. The overall character of a country may be defined by the level of civility its citizens display toward each other, especially when they don’t agree. Its character can also be reflected in how it spends its money and in the laws it writes and enforces. Ellen White states, “Love must be the principle of action. Love is the underlying principle of God's ISTOCK.COM/NASTCO
government in heaven and earth, and it must be the foundation of the Christian's character” (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 49). J U LY 2020
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