28 Days to Explore "Character"

Most of my fellow bloggers are aware of a website dedicated to the most courageous and dedicated of all blog writers. NaBloPoMo originally came about as an encouragement for blogs participating in National Blog Posting Month which happens to be November (you can read about that here). These days bloggers can choose to participate any month of the year usually by writing about the suggested topic of of the folks at NaBloPoMo. I've actually participated before and found it quite difficult to expound on a specific topic much less make a blog entry for 30 or 31 straight days. However I do check there every now and then not only to find out the bravest of all fellow bloggers but to see if there might be a topic that would lend itself interesting enough for my exploration of it for four weeks or so.

The fact that the shortest month of the year has just begun was most definitely a factor in my decision to attempt one blog post (or more) per day over the next 28 Earth rotations. Of course the consideration that I am already adding daily entries to a 12-step journal also easily influenced my blogging conscience. But quite honestly the chosen topic for February 2011 was the determining element to make me actually want to write at length each day over the coming month.

The word "character" can mean so many things as the folks at NaBloPoMo point out. I could easily choose to either write about or write in the persona of a favorite television, cinema, or literary role. And I might do that at some point.

Another variation would allow me to tell you about some of the more "interesting" people I've known over the years. You can probably imagine some of the "characters" met along life's by-ways while I was a musician, traveling artist, painting contractor, alcoholic, fraternity brother, drama major - all terrific occupations for someone generally amused and entertained watching life pass by (and yes, I am most likely on the "character list" of the many friends I've made at those jobs). And indeed I sure would like to tell you about some of them.

But the definition that struck me was the use of the word character describing the integrity of an individual; specifically I was thinking of three people who happened to be sitting in the room with me at the time. In that sense I would also have to include several other people who have been a huge part of "raising our exceptional son." It is this particular facet of "character" that I am most interested in. If this is the perspective of character in which I am to explore I am certain that I can easily fill up 28 days of blog posts using Ben, Jessie, Joan, my mom, my brothers, my dad, my grandparents, and many very close friends as examples. All of them offer the kind of character of which I can only try to aspire to.