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“Suddenly he realized that having a center meant having enough gravity to tell the truth about what he witnessed and also having enough self-regard to try to do the right thing. His reputation might be built on what others witnessed of him, but his character was built on his actions when he had no witness other than himself.” “…but his character was built on his actions when he had no witness other than himself.”
This is a from a section about George Lopez in Peter Guber’s Tell to Win. I want my children to understand this lesson. Character is so ignored today. Celebrity has stolen the role of Character in our society, and Celebrity requires no character whatever.
How can we raise children of character?
Hopefully our children don’t have to lose their arms to sharks in freak surfing accidents like Bethany Hamilton, but what a story of character. In 2003, she was surfing and was attacked by a shark and lost her arm. Not long after considering the trauma of the event, Bethany made the U.S. National Surfing team. What a heroine… but what’s more, and this caught me by surprise, her story hits the big screen on April 8, because she had the chutzpah and faith to share her story with Peter Guber.
“Then some time later, in one last attempt to get our involvement, Tice prompted Bethany to visit me when I was in Kauai. She wore a sleeveless top and no prosthetic arm and seemed completely at ease. I was impressed and asked where her self-confidence came from. She credited her deep-seated faith. Her belief in Jesus Christ, she said, had guided her and her family through the aftermath of her attack.
‘And now I see the bigger purpose for my life,’ she told me.
‘You mean as a surfing champion,’ I said, thinking that was the center of her story.
‘No, purpose from God,’ she explained. ’To help others know His love.’ Then she quoted a passage from the Bible, about the child prophet Jeremiah. “For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope.’”
This young woman, a woman of character, Eishat Chayal… a woman of valor, convinced Peter Guber to make her story into a movie.
Faith, the Word and heroes of faith… amazing.
Faith forms the center, the Word makes the center concrete and reinforces it, heroes show us how to live it. This is where the true gravity comes from. If our children our centered on Jesus, their gravity is greater than that of the world. The Word feeds this, builds it up, keeps it alive and vibrant, and heroes model the how.
God give me the grace to walk with my children through this process.
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