Musings of An Eclectic Cowboy

Character

May 18, 2010

Have you ever noticed how people react to situations? Whether it's Congress, the Oil Companies or the Media reacting to the Gulf Oil Spill. Or a friend reacting to the news of Cancer. Or even a parent's or child's reaction to something that happened in school. The way we react shows our character. I am not talking about our immediate reaction in "The Heat of the Moment" when our better judgment usually gets over ridden by our emotions. But how do we react after "The Dust Settles". Our immediate reaction to Cancer might be to blubber like a baby but do we let that control our decisions on treatment? Our immediate reaction might be to yell and scream at our child's teacher but do we listen to the teacher's side of the story before we yank our child out of school?

To me British Petroleum's reaction to the Gulf Oil Spill shows more character than both Congress's and the Media's. Yes they weren't prepared for this, yes they made mistakes and are continuing to make mistakes. But in my point of view they are not letting their mistakes control the way they handle the situation. They are learning from their mistakes but they are not allowing those mistake to inhibit their decision making, they are looking forward not looking back.

How are you handling the oil spills in your life? Do you look back to them every day and allow them to dictate how you live or do you look forward to the future without dwelling on the past? Our character is defined not only by the way we react to a situation but more importantly by how we allow that situation to control our lives in the future.

Vaya Con Dios

The Eclectic Cowboy

Winfield Davenport

musing@theeclecticcowboy.com

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