Virtues of My Life
In order to survive in 1996, there need to be at least some standards and goals of
morality in a person's life. Moral excellence is definitely hard to achieve, but is
definitely something to attempt. Personally, there are many distractions and
obstructions the present day provides, creating a difficulty of direction in my own life.
I need to overcome obstacles such as peer pressure in order to become a confident,
successful person. The present day provides impediments which I believe I can overcome
by way of morality and virtue. Order, courage, patience, and faith are all virtues
necessary for personal achievement in my life.
The first virtue I have chosen is order. In agreement with Russell Kirk, I also believe
that "order is the path we follow, or the pattern by which we live with purpose and
meaning." Order is something that directs in our everyday lives, a working condition we
cannot live without. Without order there is chaos, and with chaos there is room for
little virtue. Order is important because it provides life with stability and direction.
As an example of a personal order, the school schedule which governs my academic
studies is a type of order, setting specifics of where and when I should be. Order helps
in my life if I am able and willing to create a schedule for each day, specifically
stating when I should be doing what. If I can achieve order in my own life, worries and
concerns will be eliminated by means of order that will easily become habit. Russell
Kirk also states, "Order is the first need of the soul. It is not possible to love what
one ought to love, unless we recognize some principles of order by which to govern
ourselves." Because of the needs of our soul, I again agree with Russell Kirk that
religion, morality itself, and our everyday feelings are derivatives of order. Nothing
can be achieved without some sort of order, but we must first recognize that the things
we desire can be achieved only by gaining order. Order is truly the first need of human
life.
Courage is the second virtue I have chosen. Courage is a virtue needed to conquer fear
or despair. The virtue of courage is important because it can be applied in numerous
situations. If people possess courage, they can be strong and stable in situations where
they might feel uncomfortable. Since there are many things in life which are stressful
and unfamiliar, such as apprehension of the first day on a job, first day at a new
school, or what you will find behind door number two, courage will allow you to overcome
these suspicions and fears. Personally, courage will help me become more confident in
the activities in which I participate. I can feel better about myself and not be so
timid, but at the same time, courage is not something which I can abuse. If courage is
abused it can easily generate into conceit or egotism. Egotism can easily be obtained by
overworking courage. Courage levels out to be the happy medium between bashfulness and
conceit.
The third virtue I have chosen which will hopefully lead to self-improvement is
patience. Patience is the tolerance and the ability to wait. Patience is necessary for
life because throughout life there is waiting to be done. Because half of life is spent
in waiting, there are few desirable alternatives to being patient. If people are not
patient, they can easily become frustrated and stressed when they realize the length of
time they may have to wait. Patience is a required trait, and there are absolutely no
shortcuts for waiting. Personally, patience can be applied to my life because there is
suspense and waiting for the rest of my life and there is no alternative for even my own
waiting. I must wait to become an adult at 18, I must wait to reach the legal drinking
age, I must wait to finish high school and college, and I must wait to marry the love of
my life. It is not possible to age faster, finish colle
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