The Road to Character by David Brooks
I’ve never thought of David Brooks as a curmudgeon. I watch him on the nightly news and he seems to be a reasonable man, but in his book, The Road to Character, there is a bit of curmudgeonliness, especially when he starts talking about the self-absorbed modern self versus the man of character, or what he describes as Adam I and Adam II. Having said that, and knowing that I sound curmudgeonly, I agree with his chapter on “The Big Me” because I am from a generation that stressed character above beauty, fame, self-importance, or wealth.
When I graduated from college, the motto of the institution engraved on my class ring was “Not To Be Ministered Unto, But to Minister.” The message was that I had not been educated to be a rich superstar, I’d been educated to do good. This quote I treasure from the book could have been said to me by one of my college teachers: “A vocation is not found by looking within and finding your passion. It is found by looking without and asking what life is asking of us. What problem is addressed by an activity that you really enjoy?”
In spite of the fact that I agree with David’s chapter on “The Big Me,” I don’t think the answer to the character question is railing against the “Me” generation. The answer is to recognize that character doesn’t happen overnight. Parenting skills and popular culture all have a part to play in how a person develops, but time to grow up is what kids need most. Developing character takes a recognition that we are not the center of the universe and that our lives have purpose. Though Brooks does touch on that in the biographies he cites, he doesn’t say much about it in the end. I would have liked to hear more of his hope for the future generation.
Reviewed by Peggy Mooers