Contentment is unnatural for humans. We always want more, as in more money, more clothing, more house – or we want less, as in less fighting, less war, less cheating.
We covet what others have. We covet what is shown on television commercials. We murmur and complain because we don’t have what we want. Political parties […]
Character demands respect. That’s not a surprising statement in and of itself. Most people who do character building or engage in character education teach this character trait early in the game. Most of us want respect from others. We want respect from children. We don’t see it as much as we should, and we want […]
The air waves are filled these days with talk of tolerance. We are urged to tolerate this lifestyle or that religion, or this or that idea. In the rampant cultural Marxism that is political correctness, we are being told that everything and everyone must be tolerated. Correction. We are being told to tolerate almost everything […]
I read an interesting news item two weeks ago, and tucked it away for future use. Yesterday afternoon, while trying to beat the heat in Montana – 20 degrees above normal and no air conditioners – I retrieved the item to share with you.
It’s about a travel agency in Russia. It’s a travel agency that […]
When my father died, I received several books from his library. One is a small book for fourth grade students. It is filled with short stories and poems by various authors. Most of its stories encourage and illustrate high moral values. In other words, it teaches character.
I was reading one of those little stories, and […]
Oliver Herford, an American author and illustrator who lived and died before most of us were born, once wrote: “Tact is to lie about others as you would have them lie about you.”
Do you agree with that statement? Do you think tact, by definition, requires dishonesty?
The June issue of Character Builder Newsletter disagrees utterly. In […]
I’ve written before about our leaders and their culture of corruption – and now that culture is embracing a lack of fairness. This month, one of our leaders is singled out by his club, the United States Congress, as being above fairness. He apparently will be permitted corruption and criminal activity that would land you […]
I’ve been pressed into research this week on the problem of discrimination in the workplace. Specifically, I’m studying ageism, and it’s very real.
Imagine for a minute that you’re 65 years old and unemployed. In the classified ads, you see a perfect job. Your education and experience make you well qualified, and you know you can […]
Free character education lesson plans are my gift to teachers, and to parents who are home schooling children. Yesterday, I was writing a free character education lesson plan to insert in our newsletter, the Character Builder. The entire letter focuses on the character trait “equitableness”, and I wanted to help parents and teachers find a […]
Fairness is still on my mind today, as I just completed a 5-page article for parents and teachers who want to help young people build fairness into their lives. Fairness is the character trait of the month on our premium membership site and it is there that I posted my article on how to teach […]