Character is best forged by Mental Pain

Your welcome 1visman..learning is good..but we should keep in mind new arguments could be faulty in ways we don't at first appreciate. Asking you to remove the word was because of course there are many ways in character building, my point was just that, the paths we choose are many . ('Solely' infers 'only'. So maybe my opening argument should read 'but to only be concerned') is no different. My objective in this debate should not be to defeat you, but for the two sides to share knowledge so that one or both has a better understanding of what is true. Even in a short term debate to win an argument even if you are wrong, is wrong, the long term result is that neither person has become any wiser. Everyone should be able distinguish good from evil, but they don't. Are you saying if one doesn't experience the good, the bad, and the ugly their character will not be as good or well rounded as yours..? You are right about experience helping determine some character traits, but like a young bird pushed from its nest the odds are it will soar away in the wind. Most will never experience the same things in life..but most will adapt in other ways you or I will never experience, a balance not explained away by any man...! On the secondary points that you felt are in need addressing, if you read it correctly you would have read (my arguments are based more on real life experiences of "OTHERS" and "SELF") I do include myself and others as part of this world, and it has not only worked for me but it has given me FIRST HAND information, like the vegetarian who gets the FIRST HAND grains instead of SECOND HAND grains through meats..! Just remember "YOU" have started labeling my methods to be less than acceptable because of possible upbringing, mental processes, values, etc. Please don't insult my intelligence with the meaning of studies, statistics, oaths of lawyers, etc. I will not only stand by my comment that SOME lawyers twist their facts to fit their need...but MANY do...!! Adversity can effect each of us on so many different levels, it could come as early as school years, or never. If we can agree on anything it is this, adversity is one of the most potent forces in life. It shapes your character, and defines your path. Each of us faces an assortment of adversities every day, ranging from minor hassles to major setbacks and challenges, even tragedies. But just coping with or trying to overcoming adversity for some, on our own, can make the toughest people crumble. I didn't want to bring religious aspects into this debate but in short it has saved so many souls it is well worth mentioning. As 1visman mentioned there are many different beliefs and it is up to individuals to decide their path. It can be very difficult to know if a particular thing is true, such as whether a particular religion is true or whether a medicine is effective or whether a politician will do a good job. But it should not be that difficult to recognize when we don't know something. I believe that people can learn that ability, but unfortunately our schools and our culture as a whole do little to help people develop it. If we care about the welfare of humanity, this is something that must change. To summarize, adversity can present several problems. One is believing our own adversity's are worse than others. It is difficult to be sure of our reasons for things that happen to us, some will say its our fate, but if we are to avoid fooling ourselves, we should recognize that sometimes adversity shapes us into something not very nice, when we realize we aren't as noble as we tell ourselves, it may be to late. We should also be careful when listening to other people's explanations for what they do. Intentional or not, there might be important reasons other than the ones they tell us. Finally, if we are debating some issue, we have better hope of making progress if we make a serious attempt to figure out the underlying reasons that our opinions are different from those on the other side. We should debate the real issues, not rationalizations.