Shortcuts…

There is a way to get something done… and then there is a shorter way to get it done. Would you agree?

“Shortcut: a method, procedure, policy, etc., that reduces the time or energy needed to accomplish something.”

We might also define it as a costume, a label, a classification. A way used to make things easier to not only accomplish, but possibly to identify as well. This could include the processing of information, the attempt to gain understanding, and sometimes even knowledge or wisdom. We use shortcuts for many, many things.

One thing it may not include or take into account however, in word or action, is the idea of “character.” Many of us do not associate the person excelling in character as a person that utilizes shortcuts very often.

Qualities of character would include behavior that is identified in patterns. Character is by no means a recognizable trait as a one-time or shortcut effort. For character to be identified, it might even be safe to say that it would take several encounters at various levels of intimacy to qualify it. Shortcuts do not work with character.

As a result shortcuts don’t translate well into building relationships either. Real relationships birthed out of character. Relationships, the cornerstones of influence (especially in a culture where the idea of friendship even has been minimized to a mere social media presence) are the essence of what character and its aligned values account for.

If we are in any way, shape or form are calling out certain types of values as the moral compass of our own character, we ought to be able to point to at least one real relationship that speaks to this truth. If we cannot, then perhaps we are being shortcutted.

Today, so many things are used as shortcuts, that we don’t even know when we’re using them anymore. Can you think of some other areas that you used them? Have they been beneficial?

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