Morning, I am Daniel for those of you who don't know and I am going to talk about character. Every single one of us, today, are in the process of building character. A character in which is so unique to its roots that no-two-persons among our population of 7 billion can have a character in which is exactly the same making each and every one of us special. The common understanding of character is that it determines how we live our lives. The dictionary definitions said character is a "complex of mental and ethical traits" and that those traits, or qualities, are "built into an individuals life." It is those character qualities, those character traits, that determine a person's response in any given situation. Character is, as Abraham Lincoln quotes, "like a tree and reputation is like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing". We often intertwine the two ideas; character and reputation, but it is not the same. We all have a reputation, good or bad but most of us will agree that reputation does not define who we really are. Reputation is always and only a shadow. Now the reason I 'm talking about character today is that many of us have forgotten the qualities of character of an individual and instead only see the reputation that is shrouded around it. We need to understand that reputation is not who we are but rather a false image. There is more to a person than his/her reputation. Just because a person has a bad reputation doesn't mean that the same person has a bad character. Same goes for people with good reputations. We need to become more compassionate for each other rather than judging each other. So remember today's devotion that there is always more to a person that what meets the eye.
