Runway Ready Character

Runway Ready Character

John Paul Derryberry

I make no secret about my joy in watching fashion show competitions. I wrote a whole blog post once about wanting to meet Tim Gunn, but I still don't know if anyone can get me in touch with him. So imagine my excitement on Friday night when I saw that a new season of Project Runway was out on Hulu. I was jacked to cue it up and watch creative people turn nothing into something in a pressure-packed, short timeline turnaround situation.

Throughout the show, my excitement drained to disdain as the show highlighted characters displaying traits I find to be the stuff that burns good things to the ground. Before I dive too deep into this, I know two things. One is 100% true: Everyone has character flaws, and as a reformed jerk, I know this fact. Two, the producers and directors could have spliced together the episode to make it appear worse than it was. My follow-up to the second point is why do we always play up bad character traits instead of good ones. We have a problem as a society, thinking that talent and greatness are wrapped in an outer layer of crappy behavior.

I just get tired of the excuses we make for bad character—stuff like, "They mean well." We love to throw out, "They are imperfect people, but they do things I want done." It's a constant drumbeat of excuses about poor character explained away through religious falsities, philosophical jargon, and whatever mentality. We would rather side with someone we agree with but have a horrible character than with someone we disagree with but they are a good person. It's a rather large reason for some breakdown in our communities. Their words match what you want in a person, but their actions don't. Yet we let the words poison us, and the actions never land on our souls.

As the show wrapped up, it was down to who to eliminate. The judges summed it up best: the one with the bad dress or the bad attitude. Those two things are not even equal. Next week, the designer with the bad dress could totally redeem themselves. I know little about fashion, but I have watched enough of them to know if it's possible. Yet before I even reveal what they did, you already know. They keep the bad attitude and ask them to redeem themselves.

What if we decided based on someone's character, not who they prayed to? What if we followed people based on how they treated the person who could help them the least, not how much money they have? What if people who ensured their employees were paid well were the standard, not their net worth? What if it wasn't about what party we vote for, but who we would let watch our most vulnerable people? I know this a far fecthed idea. Yet I want runway-ready, high-quality character people. Keep your talented jerks; I'll bet on good people to figure out how to look good and be good.