Character and character assassination

To every man, this is taught: Thou art one with this Universal Being, and, as such, every soul that exists is your soul; and every body that exists is your body; and in hurting anyone, you hurt yourself, in loving anyone, you love yourself. As soon as a current of hatred is thrown outside, whomsoever else it hurts, it also hurts yourself; and if love comes out of you, it is bound to come back to you. For I am the universe; this universe is my body. I am the Infinite, only I am not conscious of it now; but I am struggling to get this consciousness of the Infinite, and perfection will be reached when full consciousness of this Infinite comes.

Swami Vivekananda

The last few weeks have seen persistent attempts at maligning and vilifying persons who are brave enough to speak out on a number of issues affecting the Guyanese society. Instead of focusing on the messages, some media houses continue to launch scathing attacks on these individuals. The circling of the wagons tends to be the order of the day in addressing the criticisms regardless of how justified they are.

Today, we explore what character is all about and how it can be destroyed through the process of character assassination.

What is character?

We often, we hear the expression that someone is a person of character or that he/she is devoid of