Dollar Hit Record Low. What about Character?

What's this I hear about the dollar hitting record lows against the Euro, Yen and the Pound. All over the news we hear how the looney is now a couple percentage points above the dollar. Naturally, financial conditions of any nation is a reflection of the character health index. Don't you agree? Let me explain. Such was the case of earlier civilizations and empires. Character of a people is the key indicator of economic strength and growth of a nation. Take Character out of the picture and you get a demise of any person and consequently any nation.

"Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." - Abraham Lincoln

Stocks are lower, oil is at record highs. You would think the sky is falling or something. Well, it's not falling in Tennessee nor Georgia. Record droughts have dried the water sources and now political debates are springing up to determine water rights. Housing woes are not making things any easier. How many families were affected by the subprime fiasco, companies get to right these off as losses - ummm, excuse me - what happens to the families?

"Character is destiny."- Heraclitus

Detroit is named the least safest city in the nation by CQ. You can't even purchase a home in some areas since police stations have been closed and fire departments reduced. There is a funky report that in some areas ants will dismantle your home (especially a newly rehabbed home) and take the pieces (yes, even the bricks) underground.

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's
character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln

Then you read in the LA Times the following article: Why L.A. police nixed plan to map Muslims. Not sure what to think. How about an ankle bracelet to go with that? Won't that look stylish in the Tinsel town.

"The forbearing use of power does not only form a touchstone; but the manner in which an individual enjoys certain advantages over others is a test of a true gentleman. The power which the strong have over the weak, the magistrate over the employed, the educated over the unlettered, the experienced over the confiding, even the clever over the silly; the forbearing and inoffensive use of all this power and authority, or the total abstinence from it, when the case admits it, will show the gentleman in a plain light. The gentleman does not needlessly and unnecessarily remind an offender of a wrong he may have committed against him. He can only forgive; he can forget; and he strives for that nobleness of self and mildness of haracter which imparts sufficient strength to let the past be put the past."- General Robert E. Lee

On the other hand, asking someone in Calgary, Dubai, Rio or West Africa for example about their economies, they'll have nothing but rosey pictures to draw of their regions. I can't help myself but wonder about their people's character and mine. We have to ask ourselves, has our character changed. What did we gain/loose? Then there is all that talk about recession and the eminence of a downward spiral.   I'll have to take a good look in the mirror, and ask myself starring it in the eye: "Would you work on your Character, the economy needs it!"

"God grant that men of principle shall be our principal men."
- Thomas Jefferson