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Character-Centered Living in a Character Starved World |
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| Character-Centered Living in a Character Starved World by Maynard Cowan, III Ebook - Bookmice.com 176 Pgs, 200 ISBN 19303644660 Reviewed by Marion E. Cason At the end of Character-Centered Living, Cowan quotes Rudy Ortega: "From now, until forever, I alone am responsible for myself." This sentence admirably sums up the essence of this powerful book. Cowan raises a key question: In our personal life do we just accept what our parents, mentors or society teach us or do we improve on the model? The author further illustrates the point with a story about his grandfather who asked Cowan: "Why do automobile makers come out with new models every year?" To improve on the previous year's model. The same idea applies to our life. Cowan uses a list of character management maxims that takes us on a tour of our own character - our beliefs, our values and how true we are to our own character. A couple of the maxims include: "Always be willing to live with the results of your actions" and "Remember that every decision carries with it a result." After elaborating on each maxim, the author offers a practical application for us to use. Throughout the book, Cowan enhances the maxims with examples from everyday news headlines. "Living a life based on values is a choice - it doesn't have a price tag." Cowan tells the story of Kerri Strug who was injured at the 1996 Summer Olympics and how she struggled with the choice to try one more vault for herself and her team. We could hear her coach Bela Karolyi tell Kerri, "You can do it! You have what it takes…" Can we think for ourselves? "Blaming behavior on something external makes victims of us all." Can we take responsibility for our choices? Isn't this one of the ills of today's society? Cowan suggests moving away from reactive living and adopting a proactive approach - to think first of the consequences of our choices. He suggests ideas on how to turn our life around if we make the choice to respect our character and to do our own thinking. Cowan raises some explicit questions with effective suggestions meant to empower and change our life. A must read. |
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