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Feb. 19, 2020 - Dennis Prager Show
06:34
Ultimate Issues: Character Matters
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Time Text
The first thing you have to do is start out with the realization that we don't start out good.
Otherwise, it's not possible to make good people if you think people are basically good.
It's like you're denying the material you're working with.
If you're supposed to work with oils and you're working with watercolors, you're not going to have an oil painting.
It's a silly analogy, but it's completely accurate.
You need to know what you're working with.
So the last caller said that that's the way he raised his kids.
I have never been a fan of one of his questions, though.
The notion, I don't really care what grades you get as long as I know you've done your best.
How do you know when a kid has done their best?
Do you know when you've done your best?
I don't.
I know when I work hard, I've done my best.
Every time I publish a book, I think of how I could have made it better.
If I did my best, I wouldn't publish anything.
I don't know what done your best means.
I think it's a well-intentioned line, but I don't think it means much.
No, I'm just more direct.
I think you just say, I care more about your character than your grades.
That's it.
That's the message parents should be giving.
Society has taught, thanks to the influence of the progressives, it has taught kids that their biggest problem is society, not themselves.
And that's...
Not only will that not make good people, it'll make narcissists.
Alrighty, everybody.
Joanne in Chicago.
Hello, Joanne.
Hello there, Dennis.
Nice to talk to you.
Thank you.
I'm going to kind of keep it simple.
I always raised my kids that we have enough smart people in the world.
We need better people in the world.
Hey!
You are my woman.
All right.
That's exactly right.
Yes.
It is pretty simple.
You lead by example.
Well, no, I don't agree with that one.
Because I think you need to teach goodness as much as you need to be good.
Right.
But when I was with my children, for example, being in a store, if the...
The teller at the store or the checkout girl at the grocery store was training or taking her time and everybody was getting frustrated with her, I would take my children to that line and teach them patience.
Oh, I agree.
Yes.
Well, first of all, you were teaching them, so it wasn't just example.
Okay.
That's my point.
I know we agree.
I just want to be precise for people listening.
Okay.
Okay.
So, well, bless you.
You probably did a good job.
This is a very important issue.
It is not enough to be a good example.
Being a good example is necessary but not sufficient.
If you're a bad example, clearly that's a problem.
On the other hand, if you are a good example but don't teach goodness, then it's like being a good pianist and not teaching piano playing.
How to play piano by watching you play piano.
They need piano lessons.
People need goodness lessons.
There are no goodness lessons anymore, except in some religious schools.
Tell me where in any public school or any secular private school you learn how to be good.
Tell me.
You couldn't come up with a thing.
There were 10 minutes in their life.
Oh, they're told to combat carbon emissions.
That's what goodness is.
Fight Trump.
That's goodness.
See, that's what the left has done.
You don't have to be good.
You have to fight the right.
Then you're good.
That's it.
All right.
And let's see here.
Erica in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Hi.
Hi, Dennis.
Thanks for taking my call.
I know Lancaster, believe it or not.
It's a lovely place.
I know, I know.
And it's a hub in that area.
It is.
It's amazing.
Yeah.
It's amazing.
But I just wanted to comment, also piggybacking on what the other caller said about grades.
We put them in a private Christian school for the first half of their education.
And they would come home with their report cards and their grades were decent enough.
But I always made a big deal about the character issues.
They had a huge section of the report card that would say, you know, works well with others.
And we celebrated all those instead of celebrating the grades.
And all I ever said about the grades was, I thank you for doing the best you could do.
So, you know, because it just wasn't as important to me.
And then, you know, the other caller kind of made that point.
But the other point that I think...
One of the things, if I can say, we did right with the kids, because we did plenty wrong, was we had them visit elderly when they were young in nursing homes to try to get them others focused.
Yes, that's beautiful.
That's great.
And sent them on trips to serve people.
They went to Mexico.
They went to the mountains down in Kentucky.
Wow.
that went with me became men on that trip because they listened to stories of people who have just been through hell and back.
That's right.
And I realized that, you know, those two hours that they get on their video games, you know, every few days.
And the complaints they had about them kind of weren't warranted.
Oh, God, are you great.
That is exactly right.
You can't be good or happy without perspective.
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