Character Poem by Lonnie Hicks

There is a secret
no one talks about;
one that we have mystified
and camouflaged.


Simply put
it begins with
the Morning Test,

which is
no one but you
can get out of bed.

That you have to do
for your self.

Others may call;
alarms may ring;
but in the end
you have only you

to motivate
to get yourself
out of bed.

This is the secret.

While we gain comfort
with faith, and kin

the sad news is
that while
this offers succor;
no one can feel the pain
that's yours;

no one can die in your place
put on your face
be inside you
really, deeply understand you.

No one can love another but you;
there is no love that is proxy love.

We humans paper this over
we don't tell the children-
we obscure this;
whole societies take the premise
that we are not
in the end alone.


The deep shock is
for some of us
when we find this is not
strictly true;
that some things
we rely on
don't really substitute
for the fact that you are alone with you,
in most things hard.

That is the Hard Truth.
What to do?

Enter here then the value of Character;
Character gives us the courage
to stand up
when others disagree and reject
and leave us alone to buffet
against the wily treacherous world.

Character gives us the courage
and the energy
to relentlessly press on
against impossible odds
and grow from this adversity
the capacity for unconditional
Commitment.

Character is all we have
when we discover
we are all alone.


Some think it came with us
from birth
others say it is imparted
by those around us
at an early age.

We start out then with external supports
until we develop our own internal ones
for ourselves and this ultimately
guides what we
do and can do in life.

It is the process of Growing Up.

And Growing Up
is simply
faith in one's self
and Character
at base.

This is magical.

Got to go.
Need to get up;
Get out of bed.
And,
only I can do that.