The Newest Thing

Is not always the best thing.

There will always be social pressure to try the new thing, the hot guy, the one everyone's buzzing about.

Adept at capturing attention, comfortable assuming responsibility for the success of others, they look and play the part.

And everyone you know is on board. What's to doubt?

At a time when literally anyone can claim to be an expert about almost everything, the only real proof is success over time and circumstance.

This becomes more of a character check than a reference check, because no one puts failures into the public record.

"Brains are like muscles: You can buy them by the hour. The only thing that's not for sale is character." *

I'm not going to change one mind with this post.

But I wish I could.

Success at any cost, at all costs?

In your heart, you know the difference between those with character, those who will stand with you when everyone else is running away, and those who will use your present circumstances for their own personal benefit but desert you the instant your trouble threatens their wallet.

We can all claim financial necessity. These are uncertain and difficult times.

Yet the people with whom we entrust our business reputations, with whom we often spend more time than we do our own family, the people we support with our energy and our talents define our character today.

We always have a choice. Moral courage is never easy. Doing what's right rather than what's expedient is always risky.

To pretend otherwise is merely self-justification.

*Eugene Scalia, father of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Antonin.