The Content of their character, pt. 2

We all want our children to be good.  Some of us remember those immortal words of Dr. Martin L. King. 

But how many of us can easily recite a list of ingredients or traits a good character contains?   You might be blessed with wise parents, grandparents, or spiritual leaders who can tell you how to raise the perfect child.  If not, there is enough information out there in libraries and on the web that, if you're lucky, you might teach yourself before your children are grown.  But why reinvent the wheel when you have enough work on your hands as a parent already?  Here are some suggestions, taken from Ben Franklin, thought by some to be the wisest American of all time, and Rabbi Israel Salanter, the founder of the Jewish ethical movement, מוסר.

WORK ETHIC

First, let's consider how we don't want our children to turn out.  If we wanted to use negative language, which we should avoid, we could tell our children not to be lazy.  Many people have wonderful ideas, but if they never act upon them or follow through on projects they begin, nobody else will know what they're capable of doing, and they won't earn the appreciation or respect they should.  


  It is better to encourage them to develop the positive character trait which doesn't have an exact English translation of the Hebrew word, but which has been called alacrity, alertness or fastidiousness, or the tendency to manage one's time constructively.  As the rabbi put it, Never waste a moment, to let it be for no positive purpose, and likewise actively do what you seek to accomplish.

Benjamin Franklin's name for this virtue, #6 on his list, was INDUSTRY, and his advice was, "Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions."    
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