Does Character Matter?

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” ~~ Cicero

Virtue isn’t a word I hear much anymore, but I try to live my life adhering to basic values of what it means to be one person in a diverse human family.

I remember one of my grade-school teachers often saying, “Patience is a virtue.” It takes patience to learn to count and add, patience to learn to read well, patience to learn to write script, and patience to wait for recess. She used the term a lot. But, then again, she was dealing with a large class (maybe 50 of us) second graders!

Philosophers, like Aristotle, looked at virtues as important building blocks of character. He saw them as essential to living well, but believed the virtues were not innate. Rather he considered them guidelines for living in harmony with others, something to be strived for.

The Old Testament puts forth varying lists of virtues, as does the Christian tradition. There are 10 virtues of Buddhism and 12 virtues of the Lakota nation. Clearly, the concept of virtues is fundamental to most spiritual systems and reveal qualities of character that underpin the ability to live together in community.

I think these aspects of character describe how to live a good life as a good human being. They are a roadmap to living an ethical life or a spiritual one, and they are universal. An atheist can live a life guided by virtues as surely as a devotee of any spiritual system. They are a recipe for the one in a sea of many.

And that is where the virtues have to be lived. They are not descriptions of how a community or group behaves but of how one individual is called to act. As I think about it that way, I start to think that part of the pain that is so evident in our society today is that virtues have become sound bites, ways to criticize others, ways to separate rather than include.

I think about the virtue of honesty or truth, and the damage that occurs when truth itself becomes untrustworthy. A society that cannot discern truth or agree on what is real is one in which a multitude of individuals have lost their way. And the road back to rebuilding such a virtue at the societal level is only accomplished through a restoration of truth at the individual level.

As always, the path turns back on the self.

Right now, it seems as if the extremes are in evidence everywhere. Can a society self-correct? I don’t know. I only know that I can as an individual. I can choose to live an ethical life and I can choose to align myself with those who also hold those values.

Maybe that is why I have such a commitment to a gratitude practice. I think Cicero is right that it is the parent of all the other virtues. It is a state of being that yields fertile ground in body and spirit for the other virtues to take root.

While I may not summon up a big platter of gratitude in the midst of a trying situation, I can still, at the end of the day, open my heart in gratitude for even the smallest of blessings. And I know that if I have a day where it is difficult for me to step into gratitude, then that day is when it is most important.

I recognize that you and I are each an expression of the same magnificent tree of life, a connection that is real. Each of us has power to impact the health of the human family in even the smallest of ways. Your love and light matters, as does mine. And I am deeply grateful for it.

With love,

Cathleen