Do We Have Character Amnesia?

I read recently about a strange thing happening in China. It seems that young people there are beginning to forget how to write the characters that comprise the beautiful calligraphy of their traditional language. Some are calling the phenomenon “character amnesia.” Because of the usage of computers and other handy gimmicks their writing is being neglected and some can no longer remember the characters they learned in childhood.

These days it seems that many of us are suffering from character amnesia only of a different sort. When it comes to some decisions we seem to “forget” the righteous route and play follow the leader and do the world’s ways. But just as the Chinese children are taught their characters by repeatedly writing them over and over we learn true character in the same way - not by writing it of course - but by putting it in practice on a daily basis. When it comes to practicing graceful modesty though we often fall far short of that goal. So much so that often when we rarely do see a young woman in a dress, in most cases it is easy to see she has had little or no practice. She walks or sits as though she is still in her shorts or jeans … and knows nothing of being gracefully modesty.

We need to seriously consider what we are allowing our children to forfeit by the habits we allow them to acquire - and from the practices that we model in front of them. Whether it be in letters - or in our morality - character amnesia is a tragedy which is sure to have negative effects on generations to come.

Let’s purpose to practice, practice, practice to always be gracefully modest in everything we do. Because you can count on it, someone is watching, learning from you and putting it into practice.

Someone said it well, “When wealth is gone, little is lost; when health is gone, something is lost; but when character is gone, all is lost!”