What does good character mean for you ?

Recently I found myself staring at above as an essay topic for a scholarship application. Being the scholarship starved guy I am, I set about to write an essay & in the process got to know a bit more about myself as well.

DISCLAIMER: The essay is an ORIGINAL piece of work and the sources mentioned in essay have been duly attributed. The essay had a limit of 8000 characters & was written in a hurry (so thought layout maybe a bit haphazard).

What constitutes good character ? Some one has so rightly said that as a question gets simpler, it becomes more difficult to answer. I am a technologist. Ask me to solve a double differential complex Laplacian equation any day and I would have the answer ready in under fifteen minutes. But when it comes to answering questions such as these, you need to take a step back and concentrate on all your life's experiences and learning to arrive at the answer. For all that we know, this may very well be a research topic of a smart guy in sociology.

So let us try to explore this 'good character'. Following words have been traditionally used to define good character:
a) honesty
b) fidelity
c) commitment
d) trustworthiness.
But is this all that it takes to have a good character or is there is more than meets the eye. I am tempted to quote the example of six blind men each declaring an elephant to be a wall, knife, tree, rope, pipe and fan. Similarly all of above attributes may be found in a person of good character but these by themselves do not make a person "good character". In words of a mathematician, these are the necessary but not sufficient condition of having a good character.

In a recent survey done online, audience was asked to rate various attributes on how closely they relate to good character for them. Each participant could vote for multiple attributes thus allowing a subjective opinion to be taken. Interestingly enough, collective user's opinion rated three attributes ABOVE all other qualities in how closely they represented good character for them and none of those were from the list of conventional words above. They are presented below in order of ratings :
1) Respect and consideration for others
2) Courage to "do the right thing"
3) Admitting and correcting mistakes

A close inspection of above three attributes reveals that there is a common thread that binds these attributes together and that is of love. This love is not towards a specific person but for the whole world. A person who is wholeheartedly in love with this world - various creations of god that manifest in nature and variegated experiences that unite together to form what we call life - is one who has an innate respect and consideration for others. Such a person derives courage from this inexhaustible source of energy called love to do what is the right thing to do. Such a person understands the humble role that he has to play in this universe and does not allow ego or arrogance to come in way of amending his own mistakes. Thus it is the love for one and all that makes a person honest, committed, trustworthy and loyal.

Let us consider an example to see the power that love holds. A guy in love with a girl will be concerned about her. He will take care of her, vow to stay together for whole life, put her needs in front of him and remain loyal to her. But if the same person one day magically falls out of love with this girl, he will neither be caring nor respectful of her.Although this example does not pertain directly to good character but it shows the strength that love can hold even if directed towards a particular individual. Now imagine the same love but instead directed towards all world in general (& humanity in particular). A love that stems from thankfulness to god for creating this beautiful world and considering us worthy enough to be placed here. This love neither holds any boundaries nor any prejudices. It is an unconditional love that arises from an appreciation towards the pure harmony and balance existing between various forces that may be to provide such a splendid world.

It is this love that makes a person do 'the right things' no matter what. It is this love that makes one keep other's concerns ahead of his even if it means admitting and correcting one's mistakes. It is this love indeed that marks a person of truly good character. In my opinion therefore, good character means to harbour unconditional love for one and all.

I would like to conclude by quoting the lines from a popular ad campaign by Discovery channel "I love the whole world. It's such a beautiful thing". The next time you see somebody humming this song, smile for you are looking at a person of good character.

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PS: So much work for just an essay !! I do hope I get the scholarship :-)