CHARACTER AND FATE

     The eternal question has always been who controls our destiny? Do we make our own fate or do others do it for us? The answer, for the most part, is a combination, but there are always the hapless and helpless victims that have no choice.
     Heraclitus made a famous statement, "Character is fate."  As I think about it, I believe much of it is true, for our character traits, our ranked priorities in our own spiritual mind, often bend us to one choice or another. It is when we fight the truth that we fail and when we ignore the danger to us from the actions of others driven by their characters that we also face danger and peril with our fate. It is at that point that we must take action.
     David Israel and Ed Black appear to be driven by their character, or what we would sometimes deem, lack thereof. There appears to be a lack of empathy with their electorate, though actually Ed Black HAS no electorate as he is simply a buttinsky, a power behind the throne, an illegitimate poser in UCO. Their characters which drive them are harmful, very much so, to our fate - to have or not have a viable Century Village or not, to have a Village which serves all, or only the few.
      Carl Jung says, or warns, that "If you bring forth what is within you, it will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, it will destroy you." Think about it. Does that mean that the battle here is between what is within the current "leaders" of UCO and the residents, that we must choose what is best for them or for us?
     We MUST choose ourselves. We must have the courage to know that our character and our fate are foremost, and are primary over the selfish character driven motives and actions of others. We must go with the right.We must go with what is best for the Village in the long run and that means proper financial planning, an open and transparent administration, a free press and media outlets, frank discussion and careful listening, a lack of selfishness on the part of the members of the administration and a proper use of ALL the people of the Village, all their intelligence, all their experience and not simply by a "chosen" few as it is at present.
     This is all common sense. It is also a fact that if we do not choose to act then we allow others to choose our fate for us, to allow their characters to override ours. Democracy is driven by the rule of the majority in a free and open society where all have the right to speak, to write, to air their views. That is not the situation here as the democracy is truly NOT a democracy for we all know that censorship and intimidation and even vandalism are the rule of the day. Thanks, though, to a small and determined group that situation is changing and that small group has grown and continues to grow by leaps and bounds. The PBSO has made it clear that the cowardly calls for them to come rescue the incompetent chair of the DA must be stopped so now what will he do? He will be forced to allow the speakers and can shout out of order or sit down as much as he wants, he can shut the mics down, but justice and knowledge will prevail. That is the power of OUR character.
     There is an old saying that "the mills of the gods grind slow, but they grind to powder." And we, as a character in a novel states, we are the grinding stones. Let us keep on grinding, having at the windmills, for we already have won victories and more will be coming down the road. Perhaps it is time for the current UCO officers and their subservients to examine their own characters and see if they are truly happy in their deeds. Perhaps the character that drove them to be sneaky spies, here and in a previous life prior to the Village, that caused them to ignore the needs of others, perhaps that same character can be changed, turned around. I kinda' doubt it, but hey, it can't hurt to try. What about it, guys? Remember Happy Days and the refrain, "When it's time to change...." That time is here, long past due.