Character

Character, it is said, is what you are when nobody's looking.

So, just what is it you are... when everybody's looking?

I just returned home from an interesting geek conference. A narrow-field technical group that gossips about what has gone wrong, what they did about it, and what's coming next. Being a cross-section of nerds, there were the good ones and the bad ones. There were the lazy ones and the hardworking ones. Some were helpful and some were not. Most were there for networking in some form or another, and there was a lot of job shopping. But they were all... interesting... in some way or other. And they were all characters.

A hundredsome of us stayed cooped up all day in a big motel conference room, voluntarily, for a solid week. Most went off to spend the evenings eating, drinking... and networking. Reminded me of the opposite of an ant colony, since most were not workers but rather were looking to use the information and work of the others. Their success at work was based upon networking.

During the offtime, I went to the gym next door instead. I've been successful because I do and I contribute... not because I use interesting others. I'm not controversial and I blend in, but I lead. I volunteered to host the conference in two years.

I've been... doing... since I was 11, whereas others have been carried. That's what I am.

I yam' what I yam'
and that's all that I yam'.

That's my "character," whether somebody's looking or not.

- © 2007 by Willy
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