Does Character Matter Anymore?

     Remember when character mattered?     
     When doing what was right was more important than getting our own way? When truth was valued more than holding onto a fabrication of what we want?      
     I miss those days when Washington and Lincoln were our heroes. They weren’t perfect, but their ethics embodied what made our civilization “civil.”     
     We’ve lost that.     
     Instead, today we fall into idolizing political, sports, and entertainment figures for their fame, and simply snicker when they’re loudmouthed, brash, or bullying. We normalize their behavior, even when it’s not above that of two-year-olds. No matter where we land on the political spectrum, we may even justify that rioting and looting are free speech when they promote our agenda.
​     We pay for this.
     So do our kids, who observe that swagger is more important than character - why bother to be nice when you can be powerful?     I fear we’ve opened Pandora’s box, cursing ourselves and our culture with a lack of respect that will lead to our downfall.
     Does character still matter? Do words matter? What about integrity? Honesty? A grasp of right and wrong? I think so, and hope we’ll each take a close look in the mirror and make a conscious ethical about-face wherever we need to.
​     Otherwise we’re doomed.