Character

[Breanna]

I have recently started a brainstorming session and I am interested in what others have to say on the matter. Developing character traits is definitely something that public schools do NOT focus on AT ALL. Character is typically assumed to be something that one develops through life experience, but I don't believe that this is the case in modern society, I think that most children and teens (and even most adults) are deficient in character. So I have started an attempt to break down and examine the qualities that determine good character, one by one. I have started to even come to the conclusion that instilling these things in our offspring is even more important than the standard knowledge of school subjects like math, science, literature, etc. I'm not saying that those things aren't important, but that developing good character is even more important. I've done research into so-called "character curriculum" but it is all Christian, and while I have gotten a few of the character traits on my list from those (namely Character First - I have put the ones I got from there in italics), I was generally not satisfied with them as a whole as they focused more on moral type qualities. Whereas I am more focused on just general traits that make someone a superior example of a person, and allow one to generally succeed better in life, rather than being a moral person that would get into 'heaven.' Of course the best way to instill these traits in your children is to develop them and model them yourself. I still believe that it is a good idea to break them down and examine them one by one. So here is my list so far, and feel free to add your thoughts and comments.

Both sexes
Alertness (vs Unawareness)
Self-control (vs self-indulgence) - proactively deciding how you want to act and following through with this
Resourcefulness (vs wastefulness)
Order (vs chaos)
Frugality (vs extravagance)
Initiative - recognizing and doing what needs to be done of one's own accord rather than needing to be prompted
Diligence (vs slothfulness)
Responsibility (vs unreliability)
Discretion - avoiding words, actions, and attitudes that could result in undesirable consequences (should be obvious but look at the people in the world around you and you'll see that apparently it is not lol)
Boldness (vs fearfulness)
Decisiveness (vs indecisiveness) - and making good decisions
Endurance (vs giving up) - the inward strength to withstand stress
Stoicness (vs self-pity) - enduring difficulties without showing pain or complaining
Composure (vs being emotional) - being calm and dignified rather than emotional and reactive
Protectiveness (vs carelessness) - guarding the safety of our loved ones and teaching little ones how to mind their own safety
Excellence (vs mediocrity) - striving for the best
Discipline (vs unmindfulness)
Sincerity (vs rationalization) - being honest with myself about my flaws and motives instead of finding excuses to justify them
Earliness (vs lateness) - Odin in the Havamal says "The wolf that lies idle shall win little meat, or the sleeping man success."
Willpower (vs laziness)
Confidence (vs insecurity)
Discernment (vs tolerance/indiscriminating taste) - showing taste and good judgment, having high standards
Concern for health - exercise, healthy food, and so on

Masculine (will one day be the head of a family)
Authority (vs supplication or permissiveness) - learning to become a head of household, make good decisions, mold future family into what is best for them
Wealth (vs poverty) - to pursue worldly success and acquire resources to provide for one's offspring
Manliness (vs effeminacy)
Calmness (vs defensiveness/reactiveness) - calm energy, not hot headed or emotional, slow to anger mindset
Dominance (vs submission) - most urban 'men' I meet (though I hesitate to call them men) are far too friendly/eager, smiling all the time, etc.

Feminine (will one day be a wife and mother)
Contentment (vs anxiety) - defense against being neurotic/worrying/etc.
Patience (vs restlessness) - similar to the above
Pleasantness (vs shrewishness) - mild and considerate rather than bad tempered and rebellious, a gentle and kind spirit rather than a resistant one
Optimism/Positivity (vs pessimism/negativity) - lightening and cheering up others in difficult times, being supportive and uplifting
Surrender (rather than being a control freak) - trusting others with your life instead of worrying over decisions or trying to take matters into your own hands
Domesticity - skill in domestic arts

[Vance Stubbs]

Interesting. It's certainly a sensible endeavor.

Mastery over a specific trade could be added to the masculine list, as the counterpart to Domesticity. Honesty could be added to the general list, as the equivalent of Sincerity when dealing with others. Honor, especially in a martial sense, could be added to the masculine list as well.

Manliness should be removed from the masculine list or Femininity should be added to the feminine list, I should think. And "Stoicism" should replace "Stoicness", for grammatical reasons.

[SUNOFSPARTA]

1.Parents
2.School
3.Peers
This is what develops character.Detailing specific traits fundamentallyaly useless, given the wide and almost endless possibilities available-good or bad.

Children learn best by seeing what others(parents,teachers and other kids) actually do,not necessarily what others say-they do,or what they "think" children ought to do.All the good intentions in the world can't over come stupidity,incompetence and ignorance.

Most white children have(and use) the capacity to learn from negative results,by seeing what failures come from nonwhites around them; and the deception of peers,teachers and parents- and in so doing,actually do the opposite to survive.

[Katy]

I think we women need to take better care of our bodies. Our men are beginning to seek their brides elsewhere, such as in Russia and Eastern Europe (Edgar Steele comes to mind)... and rightly so. Men have been programmed by nature to select a mate on the basis of her physical fitness. Men instinctively make choices that are good for them and their offspring. Nature is about "survival of the fittest," not "survival of the fattest."

That's why I strongly urge all of us white women to do everything we can to retain our natural hourglass figure if we want to save our marriages. Quit acting like a victim! Quit blaming your obesity on metabolism problems, post-partum endocrinal changes, menopause, etc. Get rid of the junk food the media want you to consume. The math is simple: The less you eat, the less you weigh.

It's hard enough as is to keep a marriage together without the "extra ballast." Physical attraction is a significant ingredient in a relationship or marriage. Why tempt the poor guy by neglecting your body and appearance? Who feels attracted to an obese woman that is waddling her way with a cane, wearing out a track from the refrigerator to the couch, jowls quivering, eating a box of bonbons, and who has to be taken to the truck scales to get weighed? There are no ugly people -- there are lazy people.

Thanks for hearing me out,

Katy

[SUNOFSPARTA]

Originally Posted by Katy

I think we women need to take better care of our bodies. Our men are beginning to seek their brides elsewhere, such as in Russia and Eastern Europe (Edgar Steele comes to mind)... and rightly so. Men have been programmed by nature to select a mate on the basis of her physical fitness. Men instinctively make choices that are good for them and their offspring. Nature is about "survival of the fittest," not "survival of the fattest."

That's why I strongly urge all of us white women to do everything we can to retain our natural hourglass figure if we want to save our marriages. Quit acting like a victim! Quit blaming your obesity on metabolism problems, post-partum endocrinal changes, menopause, etc. Get rid of the junk food the media want you to consume. The math is simple: The less you eat, the less you weigh.

It's hard enough as is to keep a marriage together without the "extra ballast." Physical attraction is a significant ingredient in a relationship or marriage. Why tempt the poor guy by neglecting your body and appearance? Who feels attracted to an obese woman that is waddling her way with a cane, wearing out a track from the refrigerator to the couch, jowls quivering, eating a box of bonbons, and who has to be taken to the truck scales to get weighed? There are no ugly people -- there are lazy people.

Thanks for hearing me out,

Katy

Excellent.
The same goes for men without a doubt.Good health is priceless.Being strong and fit has saved my life; and some other lives many times over,thanks in no small part to regular exercise and a good healthy diet.Eat less -do more-life is simple.Over eat,be lazy,get sick and you'll wind up in a hospotal room with some fat nigger telling you what your going to "have to " do-no thanks.

[M.N. Dalvez]

Our men are beginning to seek their brides elsewhere, such as in Russia and Eastern Europe (Edgar Steele comes to mind)... and rightly so.

I agree, it's on all of us to maintain our physical stature throughout our lives, even though of course we can't maintain the physicality of a 20-year old for all that time.

But let's face it, a lot of that 'seeking their brides elsewhere' is down to men who have let themselves go in a big way, and have gone off to a poorer part of the world to find a 'wife'.

I see so many men my age (late-40's) walking around with 'mail order brides' from south-east Asia and going on suspiciously frequent holidays to the Phillipines and Thailand and places like that.

And there's no excuse for that that can be put on anyone except the men themselves. They are uniformly fat or scarecrow-like in appearance. badly groomed, poorly mannered, and in general fit for no other partner than a virtual sex slave from south-east Asia.

[Breanna]

Originally Posted by Vance Stubbs

Interesting. It's certainly a sensible endeavor.

Mastery over a specific trade could be added to the masculine list, as the counterpart to Domesticity. Honesty could be added to the general list, as the equivalent of Sincerity when dealing with others. Honor, especially in a martial sense, could be added to the masculine list as well.

Manliness should be removed from the masculine list or Femininity should be added to the feminine list, I should think. And "Stoicism" should replace "Stoicness", for grammatical reasons.

Thank you for your insight. In regards to 'honesty,' I don't think that has value as an intrinsic character trait to develop. A person who believes they must always tell the truth because it is 'the right thing to do' will be handicapped when they go out into the world to make something of themselves. There is certainly a place for lying and deceit. I am looking for character traits that make one a success as a person, rather than morality type of things.

As for 'stoicness,' you got me there lol. I don't think it is even a word. But I don't want to confuse the definition for stoic that I have listed with the Greek philosophy.

Originally Posted by SUNOFSPARTA

1.Parents
2.School
3.Peers
This is what develops character.Detailing specific traits fundamentallyaly useless, given the wide and almost endless possibilities available-good or bad.

Children learn best by seeing what others(parents,teachers and other kids) actually do,not necessarily what others say-they do,or what they "think" children ought to do.All the good intentions in the world can't over come stupidity,incompetence and ignorance.

Most white children have(and use) the capacity to learn from negative results,by seeing what failures come from nonwhites around them; and the deception of peers,teachers and parents- and in so doing,actually do the opposite to survive.

It definitely isn't useless to break down desirable character traits and make a conscious effort to teach them to your children. Just because a parent has a certain trait doesn't mean that a child will necessarily pick up on it automatically.

Just one example, something like self control. A parent may have quite a high level of self control but actually fail their child by structuring the child's time too much. One can only really learn self-control when given the freedom to fail, and allowing the natural consequences of the failure to influence the child.

A lot of these traits, you can brainstorm ways that a parent can instill them in their children and find ways to make homeschooling and daily life include ways to foster them.

[Katy]

Originally Posted by M.N. Dalvez

...there's no excuse for that that can be put on anyone except the men themselves. They are uniformly fat or scarecrow-like in appearance. badly groomed, poorly mannered, and in general fit for no other partner than a virtual sex slave from south-east Asia.

Yes. These things destroy our self-worth and our Cause. If we neglect our appearance, grooming and attire, we cannot expect to esteem ourselves very high when we look in the mirror.

Or if we maintain poor posture, shuffle our feet, slump our shoulders, flop down in our chairs, slur our speech, inhale our junk food, then we won't like what we see, and neither will others.

If our homes are dirty, yards are overgrown, walkways are junk strewn, driveways are obstructed with broken down refrigirators, porches cluttered, torn screen doors, use an old Cadillac as a chicken coop, etc., then we can't expect to feel good about ourselves. They rob us of our self esteem.
Poverty is not an excuse - it doesn't cost any money to sweep the walkway, pick up the trash, wash the windows, trim the yard, mend the screen doors, or scrape the gutters. Neither does washing and ironing your clothes.

The math is simple: If we do not have successful habits, then we will not be successful - neither as a person nor as a group - let alone be of some good to the movement and help our Cause. I won't even go into our children's academic performance, job performance, relationship with family, friends, teachers, church, etc.

If we practice self-discipline, abandon these sloppy habits, and practice successful habits, then it will spill over into other areas of life as well, including the success of our Cause.

Katy