Personality vs. Character (A rant)

This is an idea I am churning through without getting definitions and analysis from other sources.

-Your personality is your manqué. It can change daily, monthly, yearly or become a long running performance i.e., Westside Story or A chorus Line. It can glitter and shine at will, it can be capricious and sultry. It can attract attention of all manner, i.e., Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump.

- Character is faceless. There are no physical attributes. There are few, if any, inconsistencies. It is an ‘entity’ and not a ‘thing’. You can not physically ‘see’ the character of a person. In other words, you can not paint it nor capture it in photograph. I have, however, seen artist come close. You have to physically be around a person a very long time to accurately assess his/her character after being introduced to the personality. You can even like one more than the other.

I am amused as pundit make energetic efforts to superimpose character onto that persons’ personality. In my opinion, it can not be successfully done.

I think when common wisdom says there are places and situations one should not discuss race, religion or politics, the policy is to not reveal any of your character traits. Also, when one refers to a ‘personal life’ one is referring to character.

If it is possible to state that one has a personality and a character, please consider it so stated.

Question: Would you prefer to work with personalities or characters? Would you like to worship with personalities or characters as defined? Is racism a personality or character issue? Are you more comfortable with a given persons’ personality or their character?

That’s about as far as I have gotten on my quest defining the difference between a persons’ personality and their character, as crude as it is. I continue to wander as I wonder….

(I think I now understand why it disturbs me so much when people use copious quotations in their writings; it is a very heavy injection of character into the writing and could be handled with structural modifications or simply eliminated.) Smile

As always,
BB

The incredible, crumbling saltine cracker

In my opinion, the Nabisco Saltine Cracker can be freely interpreted as being an institution:

An institution is any structure ….governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a given human community.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institution

As a structure, I am saddened to report the crumbling of the structure know as Nabisco Saltine Cracker. It crumbles in your hand while trying to make a peanut butter sandwich which is something you have done for years.

Making a sandwich using Nabisco Saltine Crackers may very well have been your first successful experience in the kitchen and progressed to your working years of preparing a quick and fugal lunch to having various toppings on it at evening gatherings with old friends and relatives. In your world, the Nabisco Saltine Cracker was one of the truly reliable structures.

In total disbelief and denial, you watch in horror as the little square vessel you are holding in your hand trying to spread peanut butter on does literally dis-integrates before your eyes. You watch as the history of your relationship with the now thinner Nabisco Saltine Cracker bites the dust. You watch it breaking apart with its crumbs scattering onto the countertop and onto the floor around your wheelchair and you find yourself fighting back the tears.

As always,
BB