[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 21 (Monday, February 5, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H1172]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H1172]]
                            CHARACTER COUNTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. CAPPS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend and highlight the 
wonderful education framework called Character Counts.
  I am very proud of the Santa Barbara YMCA and the Santa Barbara 
county education programs in my district that support this important 
framework which promotes civil responsibility through the following six 
pillars.
  The first pillar is called ``trustworthiness.'' This program teaches 
children and young adults the value of reliability, honesty, loyalty 
and the courage to do the right thing. It is followed in sequence by a 
pillar named ``respect.''
  Respect encourages students to treat others with the same kind of 
tolerance of differences and consideration that they would wish to be 
treated themselves. It is never too early to begin to teach that 
framework that is centered around respect for one's self and respect 
for others.
  The third pillar in the framework called Character Counts is titled 
``responsibility,'' which teaches young people to consider the 
consequences of their actions and to be accountable for the choices 
that they make. Again, the earlier we can begin to both model and teach 
ways to make choices which lead to good consequences for a young 
person's life, the better the results can be for them and for those 
with whom they associate.
  Then we have the pillar of Character Counts that is labeled 
``fairness,'' and that is easy to see but it is hard to teach. It is 
taught by repetition on a playground, in a classroom, by following 
rules and understanding why rules are established, to be open-minded 
and not to take advantage of others, to learn to wait for one's turn.
  Then we come to the pillar of responsibility called ``caring.'' 
Caring can be described in so many ways, but again, we learn to be 
caring individuals by seeing how others care for us and we begin to 
experience compassion, gratitude, forgiveness. These are behaviors that 
we want to repeat with young people over and over again until they 
become second-hand.
  Finally, we come to the sixth pillar in this framework called 
Character Counts which is labeled ``citizenship.'' Here we teach 
students the merits of getting involved in making a community an 
environment, a place where they would want to live and be themselves 
and where they can see the benefits for those they care about.
  Madam Speaker, last October I had a chance to see Character Counts 
firsthand in my district on two separate occasions. I attended the 
Fifth Annual Civic Mission of Schools Forum sponsored by the county 
schools office. I also was part of the Santa Barbara YMCA Character 
Counts event where each of these promoted these six pillars.
  So I want to particularly thank Art Fisher for his dedication and his 
tireless work toward civic education at the Santa Barbara County 
Education Office. I know that the work he is doing to teach our 
children the value of responsibility, respect, honesty and compassion 
is remarkable.
  I want also to highlight the work of Aaron Martinez at the Santa 
Barbara YMCA in promoting the very same program for children as young 
as 2 and 3 years old, stretching all the way through every age of life, 
which is what the YMCA is all about.
  By promoting these six pillars of Character Counts, the YMCA gives 
our children, our young people, lifelong tools for success, and of 
course, our children will be the leaders of tomorrow.
  So these lessons are invaluable, not just for them and for their day-
to-day life but also for the future of our community and our society.
  I told these young people as I listened to them describe these 
pillars that from what I have seen in Washington, D.C., and in the 
House of Representatives in the Congress, these principles of 
trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and 
citizenship are absolutely necessary for making decisions affecting 
their lives and should be important for us to model here in the United 
States Congress ourselves.
  I told them that I could envision these six pillars here on the floor 
of the House of Representatives, that we would say to ourselves every 
day that just as we want to teach these values to our young people we 
want to model them here.
  We need to set the example in our own House to remind our children 
that character does count.

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