I’ve been ruminating about….character
Late last year (2008) three media stories caught my attention.
Each has been well publicized in our land and they bear a common theme – great character in the face of adversity.
The first is the story of Tony McLean, the 29 year old teacher who died along with six of his students from Elim Christian College, in the flash flood tragedy that touched a whole nation.
As NZ Herald journalist Martha McKenzie-Minifie wrote:
It could have been a time of absolute terror. They were cold and trapped, and the deadly water kept rising in the swollen river. Tony McClean had already scoured the narrow section of the flooded Mangatepopo Stream trying to find a safe way out. But the group of 12 was stuck on the rocky ledge, with no option for McClean, Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre instructor Jodie Sullivan and the 10 college pupils but to get in the treacherous water and try to float their way to safety. The 29-year-old was a surfer, had run camps himself and knew the outdoors well. He must have known the immense danger they were in. But McClean didn’t panic – he turned on his charisma, reminding the teenagers of the hot showers back at base. He roused the pupils into singing silly songs, as survivor Sarah Brooks described them, allaying the screams of terror so likely in the situation and taking the time to pray with each pupil before they entered the torrent.
McClean was the last to leave the rocky post, and bound disabled international student Tom Hsu to his own fit frame before entering the water, making what many consider to be the ultimate sacrifice.
His attempt to save Tom, 16, who had cerebral palsy, would have cut his own chance of survival but the McClean family believe the thought of not helping could never have entered his mind.
The second story is closely connected to Tony McLean’s. It’s the role that Murray Burton, the principal of Elim Christian College, played in the hours, days and weeks after the tragedy. North & South Magazine, who name Burton as their New Zealander of the Year, writes about the potentially overwhelming circumstances Murray Burton found himself in upon hearing by phone of the loss of seven of his students and staff. As Burton was getting ready to leave his office in order to celebrate his 50th birthday, he received the first of several calls that would completely dominate his life over the succeeding weeks. Still grieving from his own Dad’s recent death, Burton had to confront a myriad of challenges.
Not least of these was the huge sense of loss of not one, not two, but six students, as well as a highly valued and respected teacher. Seven families to comfort and care for, hundreds of other students, staff and families to guide through the trauma, shock and grief. A school community totally distraught. A wider community wanting answers. A swarming media perhaps looking for a scapegoat – ready to pounce on any hint of accusation from the leader of the devastated school.
Just how exactly does a community cope with a tragedy of this scale? And how does a leader help navigate his pupils, staff, parents, families and supporters through such devastation and yet still be able to also reach out and support the shattered OPC staff? Reports of Burton’s attitude and behaviour over this time are full of words such as gracious, selfless, compassionate, thoughtful, hope-full, strong, vulnerable and yet all the time refusing to entertain a blame game.
The third media story, just a few months after the canyon tragedy, is that of the heroic efforts of an Auckland insurance broker, Austin Hemmings. Upon leaving work one early evening, Hemmings heard the cries for help by a woman being assaulted by a man. He instinctively went to the woman’s aid and was stabbed in the heart by the man. A few seconds later Hemmings died in a pool of blood, just five steps from the lift to his office.
A father of three teenagers, described as an “ordinary man”, unknown outside of his own network of work, family, neighbourhood, church and community connections, Austin Hemmings’ sacrificial action resonated loud and deep with hundreds and thousands of people who didn’t even know him.
Character
All three stories display acts of great character and courage. Each one has much in common with the others. But what exactly is this thing we call “character”?
At its most basic level “character” refers to the core nature of someone or something.
Os Guinness describes character as “…the essential ‘stuff’ a person is made of, the inner reality and quality in which thoughts, speech, decision, behaviour, and relations are rooted. As such character determines behaviour just as behaviour demonstrates character.”
In this sense, everyone has character – it’s the essence of who we are at the core of our beings. However, the character of a person such as Adolf Hitler is obviously very different to that of say, Mother Teresa! Both of their characters were evident in their lifestyles and actions – it’s just that one displayed a lust for power and greed while the other revealed great compassion and sacrificial love.
However, generally when we talk about character, we are referring primarily to it in the positive sense. Character is usually associated with such traits as courage and persistence (ie “strength of character”), integrity, honesty, compassion and love.
Biblically, character is closely connected to righteousness – living and acting according to what is right and just and good. And of course, the goal of the Christian life is to become like Jesus – to more and more imbibe his character in our lives. For his earthly life was the epitome of true character. He is our model.
Interestingly, the word “ethics” comes from the Greek word ethos, which means “character”. So living ethically is all about living a life of character.
And it’s in this sense that I use the word “character” regarding Tony McLean, Murray Burton and Austin Hemmings.
Isolated act or consistent with a life of character?
Because of the instinctive nature of their displays of character, it s tempting to conclude that each act of courage by McLean, Burton and Hemmings was just that – a single display of character – unrelated and disconnected to their past actions.
However, with all three men, there is a well established history of acts of character. Their lives appear to be ones of increasing character, and character-shaping events. In other words, their courageous acts were not “out of character”.
This should hardly be surprising. For our instinctive responses are invariably an automatic reflection of the core of our being – what we really value, believe, aspire to – and even more, who we really are.
As Os Guinness notes, “A person’s core character is seen best in what he or she reveals consistently rather than in a single statement or a random act.”
For example, McKenzie-Minifie writes about McLean that:
For years, he mentored a pupil with Asperger’s Syndrome, Zac, who he met while teaching at St Thomas’ Primary in Kohimarama in 2005, prompting the boy’s mother, Michelle Blaxall-Robinson to write in tribute: “He has been a quiet hero to us in the Robinson family for some time.” She told of how she did not share Tony’s faith but he reached out and helped her family all the same. “If a saint were to walk among us in these contemporary times, what would he look like?” she asked. “I can’t help but answer [that] he would be wearing boardies and an earring.”
Similar stories surround Austin Hemmings. As du Chateau notes:
He was also quick, perhaps too quick, to help others. His widow mulls over his decision to help a defenceless woman, and accepts it as an integral part of him. “He nearly risked his life once before,” she says, “But I stopped him. A man was caught in a rip. Austin, a very strong swimmer, was about to dive in and I persuaded him to run down the beach and get the lifeguard instead.” That bought her around 10 more years of blissfully happy marriage.
In fact, reading through the stories of all three men, numerous examples are noted by family, friends and acquaintances of such expressions of character. Single acts of bravery or character don’t just appear out of nowhere. They are the direct product of ongoing character development and a myriad of small choices to do the right thing.
In these moments of extreme crisis and challenge, we can only act instinctively – there is simply no time to do anything else. Therefore our responses will most reveal our true selves. Whatever, whoever, we truly have become at the core of our being, will be displayed. Such experiences are therefore the moment of real truth, the true test of character.
What role did faith and community play in shaping such character?
It’s abundantly clear in all the articles and interviews about these three men that their Christian faith was a consistent and central theme in their stories. The way they acted was a direct result of their faith and noted by all and sundry.
How gratifying and refreshing it was, for a change, to have people remarking on the positive impact of Jesus-followers in our nation, rather than the more frequently highlighted displays of bigotry, judgementalism and hypocrisy.
How’s this for impact – Carroll du Chateau of the New Zealand Herald notes that:
Hemmings’ bravery and nonsensical death…had a monumental effect on everyday New Zealanders. It shook the New Zealand psyche. Those who didn’t believe in heroism thought again.
Those who had rejected Christianity long ago possibly took a deep breath and admired the guts of a man who prayed every day for the strength to do the right thing – and made it his life’s mission to be a better person.
We debated the simple virtues of kindness and goodness versus the modern “common sense” course of turning away from trouble. We mourned for the death of someone his wife calls ‘an ordinary man’, but who most of us know was a truly extraordinary one – a man who gave his life for others – yet didn’t lose his own identity in the process.
How does this type of character grow? Well it doesn’t just happen. It has to be formed and cultivated. And God’s role in this is of course, critical. He particularly uses (as we’re regularly reminded!) the trials and adversities we face to grow His character in our lives.
But so too is the community the person immerses him/herself in – and the stories such a community tells and aspires to. And this is often underrated in our intensely individualistic culture. Yet, as Benjamin Farley has written:
…the New Testament, in concert with the Hebrew Bible, emphasizes the indispensable context of the believing community, which, in this instance, is the church, the ekklesia. It is within this nurturing context of faith, hope and love…that the Christian life, as a process, unfolds. It is never a matter of the individual alone, pitted against an alien and hostile culture, that constitutes the epicenter of Christian moral action.
I’ve written elsewhere of one of the most profound examples of this – the people of the village of Le Chambon, France, who during the Second World War, rescued thousands of Jewish children, by taking them into their homes, hiding them from the authorities, and guiding many across the dangerous countryside to safety in neutral Switzerland. This remarkable rescue mission was “led” by Andre and Magda Trocme – the pastors of the Hugenot Protestant church in the village, who nurtured the stories of their own persecuted and displaced forebears and of giving refuge and hospitality to others who might come their way. Their acts of character became an automatic communal response to the needs of the Jewish families caught up in the evil web of Nazi occupation.
We cannot develop God’s character alone. We need others. When we are committed to a community seeking to retell, understand, embrace and live out the gospel story, we are much more likely to become people of character.
And there are definite hints in each of the stories of McLean, Burton and Hemmings, of the significant, ongoing role that their specific families and communities of faith played in their own character development.
Becoming leaders of character
In each of their own ways, these three men were all leaders – both formally and informally. Others looked to them for guidance and expected them to take the initiative.
For example, according to du Chateau:
People valued Hemmings’ judgment and he made a point of being available: colleagues, church members, family, friends, they all had his cellphone number – and used it. “He was a leader,” says his boss at NZI, Jo Mason. “He’d come in every day and check the mood of his staff, schedule a couple of coffee meetings. Morale was never better. And for me he was a sounding board, confidante and friend.”
And regarding Murray Burton, North & South wrote:
In the most challenging and heartbreaking of circumstances, he showed true leadership and, by his example, brought people together without anger or blame.
So what does it mean to be a leader of character?
Well perhaps it would be best to consider what a leader lacking in character might look like, as sadly our world is full of examples like this. For leaders can behave badly just as much as anyone else. They can manipulate, use power inappropriately, be self-serving, arrogant, two-faced, and operate with hidden agendas. They can be poor listeners, defensive and unnecessarily harsh in their words to others. They can covet status and influence and be motivated by what will help them to look good in front of others. They can say things behind people’s backs that they wouldn’t say to their faces, and be dishonest in their public face – lacking integrity between what they say and what they really think and do.
If character is not as highly valued as gifting and position then it is easy for poor character to be excused. (“He is good at what he does so it doesn’t matter” or “She’s the boss so she’s entitled to be so aggressive”.)
However, Christian leaders should be noted for their character. Such leaders value being transparent and vulnerable, see themselves as broken and sin-ridden needing grace and forgiveness, aspire to be people of integrity and view their role as leaders as that of stewards, not powerbrokers. They take delight in others getting the credit. They work hard at listening and respecting others’ perspectives without reducing other’s differences to an out-of-context statement. They are prepared to make hard decisions, knowing that even with the best of intentions some people will not appreciate or understand all the dimensions of the decision. Leaders of character know that the way they lead is at least as important as where they lead. (In fact, that the two are closely related.) They appreciate that if they can’t work well with others then it doesn’t matter how talented they are, their effectiveness will be deeply compromised.
More and more I am convinced that the primary role of the Christian leader is to seek to model character. Yes, competence (however we might define that!) is important. But if a Christian leader is not exhibiting character, they have little to say, and little hope in leading others anywhere worthwhile.
What about me?
And so as I read these stories I ask myself – how would I respond if I found myself in a situation similar to McLean, Burton or Hemmings? Would I have the courage and strength of character to give my life in such a way? Or would the desire for self-preservation and self-interest override whatever impulse I might have to act in the interests of others?
Put to the test in such a way, I have no firm way of knowing. I honestly don’t know how I’d respond. However, what I can be fairly confident about are two things:
- My reactions have already been largely determined. My true character (good, bad or mixed) will be revealed – whether I like it or not!
- There will already be some indicators from my recent past that will strongly indicate how I would respond. Patterns of behaviour (good and not so good) are already imbedded in my life so that when a crisis comes my responses are unlikely to be a surprise to those who know me well. My choice/s in such moments will be consistent with what is already earthed in my being.
So in the meantime, what is there to do? Maybe the following prayer is a good starting point for me:
Dear Lord, I want to be a person of character, just like you were when you lived this earth. And yet there’s much about me that is woefully less than who I know you have made me to be. Even though I am who I am and you love me just as I am, I also know that your intention is that I become more like you – which is so much more than who I am right now. So shape me and mold me. Use the experiences of my week to etch your character indelibly on my inner being. Help me to have the courage to make small choices each day that become steps toward being a person of real character. And let me be shaped by the stories of my faith community, as they remind me of all that is good and pure and right. In the name of the One who is character personified. Amen.
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