“We had lacked the perspective to see that character-building and spiritual values had to come first, and that material satisfactions were not the purpose of living.” (Page 71, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions)
Gavrilo Princip, after attending anti-Austrian demonstrations in Sarajevo, was expelled from school and walked to Belgrade, Serbia, to continue his education. He then went on to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand and remains, controversially, revered in Serbian circles.
Lafcadio Hearn was born on the Greek island of Lefkada but moved to Dublin, where he was abandoned first by his mother, then his father, and finally by his father’s aunt (who had been appointed his official guardian). At the age of 19, he emigrated to the United States, where he found work as a newspaper reporter, first in Cincinnati and later in New Orleans. He then went on to settle in Japan, where he wrote numerous books introducing Japan to the outside world.
As you can see, both had a rough time, but that didn’t stop them (regardless of the merit of their subsequent actions): they acted in accordance with their ideals, expulsion and abandonment notwithstanding.
That’s what character is.
I don’t naturally have character. The first step in acquiring character came from desperation: the realisation that, unless I pulled my socks up, I was not going to stay sober.