It's not for me to say what defines character, to many people it's based on many principles, teachings and fundamentals. As far as I was raised, character is your ability to accept what is and adjust to suit. Life throws alot of curves in your supposedly straight road, it even creates some crater sized potholes when things look too smooth, but if we can't adjust to the circumstances around us then what are we left to really do besides rot in failure? Well that's one way to look at it, but then what happens if we don't adjust and end up with a lucky drop and manage to escape our struggles? That not only happens to people, it happens more often than you know! The people who win the lottery and become instant successes are a good example of such coincidences, they mostly spend their lives with a dream of winning a gambling game and striking it rich rather than invest and plan to be. For those who actually win the feeling is a triumph over the existing norms of society that dictate only hard work can get you to the top.
The true test of character is where you're in your deepest darkest moments that may seem too much to overcome. As a christian I believe that Christ is the ultimate answer to all that exist and may yet arise, but in the end, he gave us the power of choice, therefore we must choose him. Having the courage to choose him is itself a test of character, it tests your faith in one whom you cannot see, it tests your courage to let go of your self control and hand it over to another, even if he's the highest creator. Rising to that occasion takes more than any one is willing to admit, the thought of summoning the required energy to cry out for help is almost as daunting as admitting that we actually need help and what kind of help we need.
At the end of the day, who we become and what we do, is determined by us and the decisions we make both past and present. Character plays an integral role in that process as its strength and polarity (positive or negative) is the determining force by which we make our decisions.
