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nicohvi 's review for:
The Road to Character
by David Brooks
The premise for this book is that you need suffering in order to build character, and this is something I agree with. I think the most interesting people are the ones whom constantly challenge themselves to do better and never truly stop growing. A common misconception about this way of life is the notion that people who act in this fashion don't really appreciate or are grateful for what they currently have, which is far from the truth.
There's a clear distinction between appreciating what you have and still striving for more and simply striving for the sake of striving. Countless examples of the latter can be found in the 80-hour workweek zealots in Silicon Valley or the finance industry, whereas the former are scattered across countless disciplines.
The ordeals are what makes you experience the full breadth of human emotion, crushing through the basement of your soul only to find there's another room, as Brooks puts it in this book. Right, that's what this review was supposed to be about.
In my opinion Brooks deifies people whom have devoted their lives to service to a fault, destroying their own lives in the process. I can wholeheartedly agree that these people are exceptional, and have accomplished great things for others, but I would never trade places with any of them.
I would never abandon my own pursuit of a decent emotional and personal life to serve a greater cause to such an extent as the people Brooks discusses in this book. For instance, former U.S. president Dwight Eisenhower had to be so duplicitous with his co-workers that after he died his wife literally said she didn't truly know the man - how is that an example worth following?
Yes, he certainly achieved a lot (he became the president of the US after all, when that wasn't such a bad thing) but at the cost of his own emotional life - his soul as it were.
I see nothing wrong with sacrificing for a greater cause than yourself, that's a very noble and worthy pursuit - but never at the devastation of your own values. Suffering builds character, but too much suffering borne in the name of a cause will eventually destroy you.
I think Brooks is on to something, but he took it way too far in my opinion.
There's a clear distinction between appreciating what you have and still striving for more and simply striving for the sake of striving. Countless examples of the latter can be found in the 80-hour workweek zealots in Silicon Valley or the finance industry, whereas the former are scattered across countless disciplines.
The ordeals are what makes you experience the full breadth of human emotion, crushing through the basement of your soul only to find there's another room, as Brooks puts it in this book. Right, that's what this review was supposed to be about.
In my opinion Brooks deifies people whom have devoted their lives to service to a fault, destroying their own lives in the process. I can wholeheartedly agree that these people are exceptional, and have accomplished great things for others, but I would never trade places with any of them.
I would never abandon my own pursuit of a decent emotional and personal life to serve a greater cause to such an extent as the people Brooks discusses in this book. For instance, former U.S. president Dwight Eisenhower had to be so duplicitous with his co-workers that after he died his wife literally said she didn't truly know the man - how is that an example worth following?
Yes, he certainly achieved a lot (he became the president of the US after all, when that wasn't such a bad thing) but at the cost of his own emotional life - his soul as it were.
I see nothing wrong with sacrificing for a greater cause than yourself, that's a very noble and worthy pursuit - but never at the devastation of your own values. Suffering builds character, but too much suffering borne in the name of a cause will eventually destroy you.
I think Brooks is on to something, but he took it way too far in my opinion.