The Road to Character

Brooks remembers a time when his local NPR station rebroadcasted an episode from a show called Command Performance for World War II troops. The episode they replayed was first aired the day after V-Day, when the war in Europe ended with the U.S. and the Allies as the victors. Brooks was struck by the episode’s humble and gracious tone. Despite the fact that the episode was addressing one of the most important and valiant military victories in history, no one was boasting about it. Instinctively, the program hosts all resisted claiming moral superiority.

In contrast, Brooks remembers the football game he watched right after listening to the V-Day episode. One of the players, after making a good play, pranced around the field congratulating himself. The excessive self-love of the football player compared to the humility of the World War II heroes made Brooks recognize the major shift that has taken place from self-effacement to self-promotion in society.

Brooks says that in the culture before this shift, people were generally more “skeptical of their desires” and more willing to combat their flaws. Overall, society was less promotional. For instance, only one political figure published a memoir during Eisenhower’s time in office, whereas 12 did                                                                                  during Reagan’s term. Also, when George H. W. Bush was running for office, he resisted the modern pressure to use “I” in his speeches because he was raised in a time when self-promotion was disapproved of.

Brooks analyzes data to illustrate the cultural shift from humility to the “Big Me.” Psychologists have noted an increase in narcissism among adolescents. Also, over time, achieving fame has been increasingly ranked as more important than any other ambition. From TV to religion, the message has changed from self-sacrifice to self-love: Disney movies teach self-trust, the Girl Scouts urge girls to put themselves at center stage, and religions insist that God made everyone special.

Brooks returns to the episode of Command Performance, the humility of which he found “haunting” and beautiful because it made the speakers on the show gracious and comforting. Brooks comments that humility is intellectually remarkable because it leads to wisdom—the dignity of owning one’s ignorance and “the role [one] plays in a larger story.” Lastly, humility is morally impressive: it actively resists vices, such as pride, and works to build character.

Brooks points out that today, many people use “the journey” as a metaphor for life, viewing themselves climbing “the ladder of success” on a journey through the external world. People tend to view all accomplishments—even ones that are purposeful and make a difference—as external gains.

In contrast, humble people use the metaphor of self-confrontation. They view themselves as “deeply divided,” talented and flawed. They know that if they don’t confront their weaknesses, they’ll let down an essential part of themselves. For these people, self-confrontation of their flaws is more important than the ladder of success and is the “central drama of life.” They desire to become strong where they are weak.

Essentially, the problem is people’s tendency to be self-centered, Brooks claims. Brooks quotes a passage from a David Foster Wallace speech which claims that it is impossible not to view oneself as the “center of the universe.” Brooks claims that this self-centeredness leads to vices such as pride and manipulativeness. It leads people to constantly rank themselves superior in comparison to others.

Brooks explains that people mistakenly put the things they love in the wrong order, putting less valuable objects of love above more valuable objects of love— putting love of money over love of family, for instance. Although everyone likely knows deep down which loves are most important, many people disorder them. Someone who betrays a friend’s secret at a dinner party is foolishly putting their love of popularity above their love of friendship.

Brooks says that the humble, moral realist understands that everyone is made of “crooked timber.” Given that everyone is flawed, character doesn’t emerge from one’s talents or achievements, but out of one’s struggle against their flaws. This is shown in personal stories in which people are jubilant when they overcome a weakness and dejected when they succumb to one.

Brooks mentions a friend who lies awake before bed thinking regretfully of his hard-heartedness with people who needed him that day. After recounting all his “sins,” he plans for how to avoid the same sins the next day. Brooks claims that everyone has this responsibility to become more moral each day. People like his friend understand that character is not innate, but that it is built through hard work. One’s success—one’s Adam I—depends on one’s Adam II.

Brooks notes that, although the words “fight” and “struggle” apply to one’s confrontation with their weaknesses, the building of character is not always war-like in the usual sense. Often, character is built through love and pleasure. Through devotion to a person or cause, one learns to emulate good qualities, serve those they love, and desire better things.

Brooks admits that no one can build character without help. Confronting and defeating one’s vices is too difficult a task to undertake without support, whether from family, friends, exemplars, traditions, or God. Everyone needs advice, inspiration, and encouragement in order to build their character.

Brooks claims that, in the struggle for character, it doesn’t matter where a person works or whether they are upper- or middle-class. All that matters is whether they are willing to participate good-naturedly in “the moral struggle” against themselves. While Adam I only achieves success by conquering others, Adam II builds character by conquering the self.

Brooks notes that every exemplar he will discuss in the following biographical essays “had to go down to go up.” In order to see who they really were, they had to lower themselves in humility. They “quiet[ed] the self,” and suddenly they could see things clearly and accept what was around them. Having quieted the self, they found themselves supported in ways they could not imagine beforehand.

Brooks goes on to say that after humbling oneself, a person finds new joy, new loves, and new callings. They are transformed. Going through the process of humility endows a person with self-respect. Self-respect is not gained by being better than others, but by being better than one’s past self. Self-respect develops through inner victories as opposed to external ones.

Brooks states his belief that the old formula for character building shouldn’t have been given up. People don’t know how to build character anymore, and modern society has become superficial. It is a fallacy to claim that nurturing one’s Adam I side is profoundly satisfying because Adam I is constantly desiring more. On the other hand, one’s Adam II side can achieve satisfaction because it knows that moral joys are true joys. Brooks’s goal is to help people relearn the tradition of building character.