Virtues

[Martin Hash]

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I grew up Mormon; I went to Sunday school; I was taught there are such things as virtues, the nine Christian virtues being faith, hope, love, wisdom, justice, courage, moderation, integrity and perseverance. I was also a Boy Scout; the twelve points of the Boy Scout Law: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. Because of my youthful indoctrination, I started my adult life believing in and practicing virtue, but as I gained more experience and sophistication, it became obvious that there was no immediate benefit. The thing about virtues is that they don’t directly lead to success in life; there are lots of virtuous poor people.

Virtue can only make you good but plenty of good people don’t get rich or famous or even get the girl. Most people don’t want to be good, they want to be liked, or successful, or beautiful, or funny, and because of fairy tales, they inappropriately think that being good will get them these other things. When people gain the realization that virtues are all give and no get, they give up on them; that’s what’s happened to society. Unfortunately, the vestige of virtue is virtue signaling, which is actually destructive to society; all of the bad from saying and none of the good from doing. The real value of the virtues is they help you keep what you’ve got. This is a very subtle benefit, one that requires explanation and insight; if you are honest, honest people will treat you honestly. If you are kind, kind people will treat you kindly. If you are patient, patient people will be patient towards you. All of the virtues are reflected back; that’s why virtuous societies thrive.

Looking into it, the list of virtues is a lot longer than I thought: adventurous, ambitious, articulate, assertive, assiduous, attractive, authentic, benevolent, conscientious, considerate, conviction, courageous, decisive, disciplined, encouraging, fair, forgiving, generous, honest, punctual, indignant, individualistic, industrious, observant, optimistic, patient, reasonable, respectful, responsible, reliable, spirited, tactful, tenacious, thorough, and witty. I was surprised the list goes on: acceptance, assertive, beautiful, caring, committed, compassionate, confident, contented, cooperative, creative, detached, determined, dignified, encouraging, enthusiastic, ethical, excellent, fair, flexible, gentle, gracious, grateful, harmonious, honorable, humble, idealistic, imaginative, joyful, just, loving, moderation, modest, orderly, passionate, peaceful, perseverance, prepared, punctilious, purposeful, service, sincerity, tactful, temperate, thankful, truthful, understanding, visionary, and wise. I couldn’t imagine there were any more virtuous but all I had to do was look at someone else’s list, which added ethical, initiative, merciful, mindful, noble, open, orderly, perceptive, receptive, resilient, sacrifice, serene, steadfast, strong, wondrous, and zealous. Virtue is its own reward; it’s a lifestyle but I can’t see how that works out because if you’re being virtuous, when do you have the time to get anything else done?