What Character Trait Do You Most Admire?

Posted on March 19, 2009 by Bruce Keener

This is an opportunity for you to discuss the character trait you most admire in people.

For me, it is humility. And, by that, I mean true humility, such that people retain it even when they become very successful. I’ve seen people who I thought were fairly humble, until they reached a certain threshold of success. Then, it was like they changed overnight. I suspect that, in reality, only then was I seeing the true person … they wore a disguise until they became successful.

Fortunately, I have also seen people become very successful and still retain their humility. That’s when you know it is genuine.

People who have humility always seem to have other good traits, such as honesty and integrity. But, I have seen people who I believe have integrity without humility. Interesting how that works.

Your thoughts?

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  • Alex

    I think that humility is real number one here, at least from a christian point of view. It is opposed to pride, which is a root of all sins, because of rejecting God in selfish act of self-admiring. For me, Book of Ezekiel has comprehensive and frightening description of what it is, let alone that this prophecy appeared to be historically true for the jews. A weird text, to be honest.

    Still, what would you say about humane ability to love? And what words would you use to relay an experience of such amazing traits as sincerety, authenticity, loyalty? And what about that truly wonderful ability of human soul to keep its sacred beauty even in finished psychopats, murderers, politicians and so on? Every human is a wonder, and sometimes I don’t know which trait to admire most. Or which trait to hate, I must admit.

    I’m not sure what else to say on such a bottomless matter. Maybe the most admirable feature of every person is being a child of God. That’s not a certain answer, alright, but “why need I volumes, if one word suffice”?

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce Keener

    Fantastic insights, Alex! Thank you, very much.

  • John

    Integrity.

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce Keener

    Integrity is certainly the most essential trait, isn’t it John? I suppose if I had to choose between knowing someone who has integrity but is not humble, and someone who is humble but lacks integrity, I would certainly go for the one who has integrity. It just seems to me that humility is a more rare trait, even though it should be common (as should integrity, of course).

    Thanks for the comment. Always good to hear from you.

  • http://www.time-management-techniques.com Andy

    Persistence