DO NOT BE OBSESSED WITH CREDENTIALS

Two people stand in front of you. A person with an impressive material resume. The house, the cars, the vacations, the bitcoin fund...haha And another stands with virtue, honor, humility, love, caring towards others, an open ear for listening. Who do we honor more? Who is more deserving of praise? I am not saying these are mutually exclusive, there are plenty of people with great wealth that are amazing people with phenomenal hearts and care for others, that is not my argument. This isn’t a post against money or capitalism or anything like that. Don’t get it twisted. My point is to ask ourselves: how often do we simply value someone based on their POSITION in life instead of their true CHARACTER? #InstaFamous What is the criteria we use when we decide whether someone has earned or deserves our respect or admiration? That criteria will say a lot about how we view the world, judge ourselves, and what we value. Have we become too obsessed over someone’s credentials and forget to see people for the character in their heart? These thoughts come from a quote I read this morning. In his book, “The Art of World Wisdom’, Baltasar Gracián writes: “Even a king should be honored more because of his qualifications than because of the accident of his birth.” I think we would all agree. I don’t think qualification here means his diploma, or degree, or job title alone. However, are there times where we only look at what people have instead of who they are. I am not saying to discredit accomplishment and awards and achievement by any means. I think those are important too. Today, I am simply being reminded to not only look at what someone has done, but recognize who they are and how they got to where they are. What do you think? Do you agree or feel differently? 1.16.18 - Phillip Andrew