Character

What do you think helps shape people's character?
What makes some people have better character qualities than others?

Parents, and things that happen to people in life and how they choose to deal with those things.

that pretty much sums me up.

I think what the parents do when the kids are young is important, but I don't know how much it shapes their character when they are in their teens +...except lead by example maybe?
I think their peers would have a bigger influence....my friends and I have a motto "Be the Peer Pressure"

I think that my parents shaped my character more than anything. When I became a teen my character was already solid and set firm. If it wouldn't have been I would have crumbled under peer pressure. If my peers would have shaped my character I would be a terrible person today.

Yeah, I agree. From a young age, my parents made sure I had a firm foundation, and used the "rod of discipline" to help weed out bad characteristics They gave me the tools I use today to make decisions. But they let me make my own choices now, and just kind of guide and encourage me. My walk with the Lord also is a HUGE part of my character.

the way you was brought upe.g if you were brought up with a lot of violence than your gonna use it or change the circle and go the other way.

People can't blame everything on their parents though...I agree, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Prov.22:6
But say someone is raised by an alcoholic and abusive dad, does not mean they have to go the wrong direction. I think Character is formed by what is in you and who is in you.

its a difficult thing to answer,
you learn from your experiences obviously, but what you learn depends on your perception, like say a boy gets beaten from a young age, lets say there could be two contrasting reactions, he follows this example and later in life beats his own kids.
or maybe he dosn't and can't stand violence. especially towards children


what creates that difference in perception?
i think its something more than just experience.

i'm confident that if i was switched at birth with another baby who grew up to look very similear to me, today he would't be me.

I would have to say that my parents had the biggest influence on my life and yeah they pretty much shaped my character . I can say that they had more to do with it than my peers because my parents taught me to be myself no matter what and to be a leader and not a follower. If I went with the pressure from my friends then what my parents had molded into me would have been lost. I can see where peer pressure would come in but I know that from and early age my parents started teaching me right from wrong and I took heed to the things they taught me.

I watched how my Mom and Dad lived, and loved. I admired their relationship with us and the relationship they had with each other. I have to credit my determination to my parents.

The environment they've grown up in, their family, friends. I know my family had a big part in how I grew up.

I make good and bad decisions in my life but at the end of the day its me who makes them. Lack of character is defined by letting other people make your decisions for you, in my humble opinion.

To answer the question it is upbringing to start with and the rest of your learning life that continues to shape your character.

I read an article about Norman Tebbit MP the other day and that man has character. He and his wife were in the hotel that was blown up by the IRA during the 80's. His wife was crippled for life. He says he would never forgive the IRA for what they did to his wife till the day he died.

But he never lets it get him down for one minute and sticks to his policies and principles that he had way back when he was in government and still an active and very powerfull MP.

An old man he may be but he is as rigid as iron on his views concerning negotiating with terrorists.