Monthly Memos

Behavior And The Content Of Our Character

Charles I. Mundale
Executive Director of MCCR

December 1993

Martin Luther King once looked forward to the day when we would judge each other "not by the color of our skin but by the content of our character." When we set about to judge the content of our character, we are soon dependent on words like "honesty," "faithfulness," "integrity," and "civility." Such words have been relegated to the intellectual sidelines in recent years by philosophers "deconstructing" morality and meaning, social scientists designing "value free" research, journalists hunting the Holy Grail of "professional objectivity," and businesses creating value added at the expense of values maintained.

It is getting increasingly difficult to resist the argument that there is a cause-effect relationship between these habits of thought and the patterns of behavior that now threaten to vulgarize our society. Life in these robust and uncertain times has become less and less civil for all of us even as it becomes more and more affluent for some of us.

The emphasis on strictly descriptive statements about human behavior provides a much-needed corrective to ideological pronouncements, which are typically naive and often demeaning. But, once again, the swinging-pendulum metaphor proves its versatility. Too much of a good thing can be harmful.

Fortunately, the marketplace of ideas remains open, and contrarian voices are telling cautionary tales. One of these is Michael Josephson, founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics in California. There is, as Mr. Josephson puts it, "a hole in the moral ozone." Mr. Josephson's Institute recently surveyed nearly 9,000 young people and adults on ethical issues. The findings were truly disheartening. Thirty-three percent of high school students admitted they cheated on an exam; 16 percent had lied on a job application or resume. The results among college students were better but hardly encouraging.

For Mr. Josephson, the message is clear: "an unacceptably high number of young people act dishonestly or irresponsibly." We have been neglecting the central concept in Dr. King's devout wish: character. He suggests that the content of our character is based on six "pillars:" trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.

No doubt "character" involves other attributes as well, but Mr. Josephson's list is a good place to start. And it is, after all, the season of new beginnings.

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