Day 23: January 23, 2009

Question 42:
Would you like to be proudest of your accomplishments or your character?

Responses:

• Can I choose both? I’d be proud of myself if I had accomplished something useful and meaningful to another person and I did it in such a way that was neither detrimental nor compromising to others, including myself. I know this will sound Pollyanna-ish, but in the world today (and probably in the past and in the future), it would be an accomplishment to stay true to oneself and always “do the right thing.” Because it matters more to me that someone is a “good person” than what they have accomplished, I would say that I would like to be “known” for my character. But having said that, I would also say that I would like to have had a talent for which I was known, not for the notoriety but for the focus and purpose it must give one’s life.
• I would like to be proud of my character, because that is more important to me than anything I could accomplish. Of course I’d prefer to do both. Many can accomplish great things but their character may be suspect. Accomplishments may be remembered throughout history, however when the person’s character is in question, it has the potential to mar the accomplishment.
• Character. Without that, accomplishments are nothing.

Song:
When We Are One, by Gabriel Mann

Lyrics:
i call you up by the lamplight
confess to you like a sister
not even an image of you for company
i would sit there for hours
waiting for you to finish
but you're mountains and rivers away from me now
but you know your power
and you turn it on
like you done it all before
you pull away
just when you know that i need you more
and you're so laid back
when you twist me and i crack
but there¹s a moment when distance is done
when we are one
when we are one
i have one vivid memory
of meeting you in the summer
you were not very much younger than you are
you sing to me like a siren
come and make me your prisoner
'cause i know you're a friend and a foe to me now
but you know your power
and you turn it on
like you done it all before
you pull away
just when you know that i need you more
and you're so laid back
when you twist me and i crack
there's a moment when distance is done
when we are one
when we're one
there's a moment when distance is done