Character Is Destiny

I was reading up about the US Presidential Elections a few days ago and getting some background information on John McCain, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin when I read that John McCain wrote a book with Mark Salter titled Character Is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember. The title fascinated me, so I read more about and found out that it's "a collection of biographies about individuals from the past and present who, in the authors' view, exemplify the best qualities of character. The book is divided into seven parts with further divisions of a characteristic and a person who is seen to exemplify it."



In McCain's words from the book's introduction:

It is your character, and your character alone, that will make your life happy or unhappy. That is all that really passes for destiny. And you choose it. No one else can give it to you or deny it to you. No rival can steal it from you. And no friend can give it to you. Others can encourage you to make the right choices or discourage you. But you choose.



Part One: HONOUR

HONESTY - Thomas More
RESPECT - Gandhi
AUTHENTICITY - Joan of Arc
LOYALTY - Sir Ernest Shackleton
DIGNITY - Viktor Frankl


Part Two: PURPOSE

IDEALISM - Sojourner Truth
RIGHTEOUSNESS - Roméo Dallaire
CITIZENSHIP - Pat Tillman
DILIGENCE - Winston Churchill
RESPONSIBILITY - Lord Nelson and His Lieutenants
COOPERATION - John Wooden


Part Three: STRENGTH

COURAGE - Edith Cavell
SELF-CONTROL - George Washington
CONFIDENCE - Elizabeth I
RESILIENCE - Abraham Lincoln
INDUSTRY - Eric Hoffer
HOPEFULNESS - John Winthrop


Part Four: UNDERSTANDING

FAITH - Christian Guard at Hua Lo Prison
COMPASSION - Maximillian Kolbe
MERCY - Mother Antonia
TOLERANCE - The Four Chaplains
FORGIVENESS - Nelson Mandela
GENEROSITY - Oseola McCarty


Part Five: JUDGMENT

FAIRNESS - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
HUMILITY - Dwight D. Eisenhower
GRATITUDE - Tecumseh
HUMOUR - Mark Twain
COURTESY - Aung San Suu Kyi


Part Six: CREATIVITY

ASPIRATION - Ferdinand Magellan
DISCERNMENT - Leonardo da Vinci
CURIOSITY - Charles Darwin
ENTHUSIASM - Theodore Roosevelt
EXCELLENCE - Wilma Rudolph


Part Seven: LOVE

SELFLESSNESS AND CONTENTMENT - Mother Teresa




"Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence."
- Henry Louis Mencken

Audio Candy:
Lifehouse - Simon