Character

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved." -Helen Keller

I have learned that life is a series of decisions and a collection of consequences. Whether the decision is a small one like hitting the snooze button another time or whether it is a large one like deciding to accept a new job in another state there are consequences for those decisions. Each day I am faced with new decisions to make while I live out the consequences of the decisions I have already made.

If I make good decisions, the consequences should always be positive; hopefully not only for me but for those around me. If I make bad decisions then I can expect to struggle through some unpleasant consequences. And I may not be the only one involved.

The struggles I now face are a result of decisions I have made at some point in time - some of them very recent and some of them from many years ago. It is how I choose to react to and reason through the decisions now before me that will dictate the consequences I have yet to face. It is my experience of living through a lifetime of consequences that I have grown and matured into who I am.

It is now, in my darkest moments that my character is made - and exhibited.

It is decisions like those I've made this evening that will decide the consequences I will face in the months and years to come. It is my character that tells me those decisions were the right ones even before the consequences come.

-Travis

"A man's character is his fate." -Heraclitus