Qualities such as humility, forbearance, respect and self discipline helped to sustain people through terrible times.
The Road to Character considers moral values and social ideas once assumed to be central but rarely discussed today.
“We live in a culture that teaches us to promote and advertise ourselves and to master skills required for success but that gives little encouragement to humility, sympathy, and honest self confrontation, which are necessary for building character”
People with character are quiet achievers.
“They radiate a sort of moral joy. They answer softly when challenged harshly. They are silent when criticised or unfairly abused. They are dignified when others try to humiliate them, restrained when others try to provoke them. But they get things done.”
We seem to focus on what people are in terms of looks and money rather than who they are as people, serving others and trying to do some good in the world.
The Road to Character makes a case for the worth of people’s ideas to be linked to the way they conduct themselves.
Self effacement rather than self promotion, humility rather than arrogance, modesty rather than pride are some of the exacting life choices that Brooks thinks more of us should be making.