Doing Great Deeds

              

It is unfortunate that we think of great deeds as feats of heroism like dying for one’s country or inventing vital machines or discovering basic laws, and the like.

But it is not so. A simple citizen agitates to have illegal dikes in the lake removed, a high school girl who joints a reforestation project, a policeman who follows the law in his investigations, an old man who plants fruit trees for future generation to enjoy-these are doing great deeds.

The basic ingredient of these heroes is character, for character is strength.  It insures mastery of your desires and enables you to concentrate your strength and energy on the accomplishment of some definite job or task. Character sharpens your senses- your sense of duty, your sense of justice, your sense of responsibility, your love or truth. Character enriches your life which otherwise would be uninteresting, even boring, because it is purposeless and lacking in ideals.

Having character repays you in more than one way. With it, success in your studies now, in your career later, and in your family life is virtually assured. Secondly, people will trust you; it will inspire your fellow men to repose confidence in you. For you will not be one whose convictions shift with shifting winds. You will not be like the reed that is bent now this day, now that ay, by the wind of popular opinion.

Instead, you will be a solid rock which becomes the foundation of great deeds- great because though little in scope, they affect the lives and well-being of a great number of your fellowmen. You fight against pollution and graft, you fight for energy conservation and human rights- people will follow your lead because you are a man of character.