Integrity and Character

Ya Ya Ya I know, I don't post on here ever, maybe once a month, well let’s face it, I've got a busy life here, but today I felt like rambling about something that sparked my attention in a conversation I had today. The individual I was chatting with had some great things to say about the slippery slope of addictions and alcohol abuse, and he happened to mention something about integrity and character, and that got me to thinking, do we even value integrity and character today? I mean sure we all seem to admire those who are moral and good people, but do we admire people who are people of integrity, we admire people who are loyal yet we don't necessarily expect people to be loyal to who they are, instead we throw out integrity and say it’s an ideal. Same with character, we want people to have personality, but nobody takes the time to develop character in themselves anymore. When was the last time you had a conversation with someone and you went away thinking gee that person has a lot of character, or that person is a person of integrity. We normally go away from conversations thinking, man that person is funny, or I could listen to that person forever, or even I wish that person would stop whining. Integrity is something that no one has time for anymore, and I think I’m starting to understand why Paul says "suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character and character hope" and yet it’s no wonder why character isn't a valued attribute anymore, no one values suffering and suffering is viewed as a bad thing completely. That suffering is something to be avoided, an easy and quick example of this is look at people disciplining their children, no one thinks its right to discipline and yet what kind of people are we creating, ones who have no concept of consequences to actions, and ones with little character because they have never had to suffer the consequences of a wrong action. Where this mentality crept in I don't know, I mean I blame everything on the boomers so I’m sure I could say that here, although all the boomers would blame the gen xers and the gen xers wouldn't care who's to blame as long as they don't have to suffer through making a choice about it. But how do we convince the next geners, the millenials or whatever they are called that integrity and character are to among their top traits to be developing in themselves. How can we place value on integrity? How can we show character as opposed to personality, how can we encourage our youth to grow in that area. Surely as they grow in their integrity and character we will see growth in other areas, whether maturity or in areas of spiritual growth. Mostly I was thinking about this because I’m trying to help my underage senior high's to come to the realization that social drinking isn't acceptable. Somehow the thought is that as long as they aren't drunk it’s okay, but the fact still remains they are underage, and shouldn't be drinking to begin with. So where is our integrity when it comes to that, why don't we have enough character to say no thanks. Any thoughts?