After taking the virtue quiz the results were not surprising (PBS, n.d.). The three areas which were suggested that I
improve on were: Temperance, Frugality and Order. I have always known myself to live life very
intensely and without a lot of boundaries. Although I was raised to appreciate the things
I have and consider myself to be very nonmaterialistic, I also am very
spontaneous and impulsive. This
impulsivity gets me into a lot of trouble since I tend to weigh out
consequences after the fact. Over the years the impulsivity has dwindled
significantly, mostly because I have learned through many mistakes. But I think that much of this behavior is part
of my character and is difficult to change. The three virtues that the quiz results
suggest I improve on would definitely make a significant improvement in my
life.
Benjamin Franklin described the virtue of temperance as “eat not
to dullness. Drink not to elevation (Ben’s 13 virtues, n.d.). I interpret this as “don’t be a pig and a
drunk”. I absolutely love food, and
although I don’t consider myself a drunk, I do love my wine. Because I am a very athletic person, I have
always allowed myself to indulge in practically anything that I like to eat
(within reason). I do stay away most of
the time from fried food, sugar and most artificial and processed products. But, even with these limitations I still
overindulged. I think I could incorporate
this virtue into my life by being vigilant, knowing the relevant facts and the
consequences as LaFollette (2007) would say.
He goes on to explain that:
We may fail to understand the importance of
self-regarding virtues like self-control. Or we may know that we should be more
disciplined, persistent, or insightful, yet not know how to inculcate these
traits. We may also lack the relevant
empirical information we need to make wise personal choices (p. 8).
On
understanding these limitations and challenges, he assures us that by putting
in the work and the practice we can learn to make prudent decisions. In the aspect of gaining the virtue of
temperance, I think that I need to be more disciplined and most importantly
have the vivid imagination to see the consequences of these behaviors
(LaFollette, 2007). By adopting the
virtue of temperance I am also acknowledging the lack of others and in a way it
is a process that I can experience comradeship with those who have less than I
do.
The second virtue that I scored poorly on was Frugality. Ben defined this as: “make
no expense but to do good to others or yourself: i.e., Waste nothing” .As
I mentioned earlier, I am not a materialistic person. I also was trained from a very young age that
money doesn’t grow on trees. However, my
sense of generosity and compassion does hamper my spending behavior. I think I am meeting this virtue in the
middle. Because I am impulsive and
because I love sharing my wealth, I find myself sometimes just throwing my
money away on the people I love. Money
means nothing if I cannot share it. This
of course has gotten me into some debt and therefore I need to learn to curb
these habits. I came upon an interesting
blog with many tips on how to be frugal and still have a good life. Many of these tips may seem common sense, but
there were some great ideas that I plan on implementing in my life. For a list of the author’s tips, here is the
link: http://zenhabits.net/the-cheapskate-guide-50-tips-for-frugal-living/. One
important tip that the author makes is that being frugal leads to so many more
ethical and healthy choices such as exercising more, spending more time with
family and saving money for retirement (Babauta, 2007). In the
same way that Temperance teaches me empathy for those who have less, Frugality
also is a virtue that can put me in the shoes of others and teach me to
experience life with less.
The last of Ben Franklin’s virtues that I could definitely work on
is Order and is defined as: “let all your things have their
places. Let each part of your business have its time”. I am not an orderly person, yet I am a very
clean person. Because I believe in a
minimalist life style, I don’t tend to have a lot of clutter. But, there is still no order in the things I
do own, at least not one that makes sense. This lack of order does cause a lot of stress
and chaos in my life. I was given a book
for Christmas that is saving my life in this aspect. The book is called the life-changing magic of tidying up and proves to be the bible
for decluttering your house (Kondo,
2011/2014). Kondo makes a lot of
interesting points in her book regarding the magic of tidying. She explains that “a dramatic reorganization
of the home causes correspondingly dramatic changes in lifestyle and
perspective” (p. 2-3). I can understand
how this can be true. When our lives are
cluttered, so are our minds. I also see
how maintaining order in your life can also lead to better ethical and moral
behaviors. Kondo reiterates that “people
cannot change their habits without first changing their way of thinking”
(2011/2014, p. 15). By forcing order
into our lives we also train our minds into a habit of change. I do believe that this will extend itself into
better moral decisions. I would like to
conclude with something from Kondo’s book that really puts the virtue of Order
into perspective. She says “to truly
cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that
have outlived their purpose” (Kondo, 2011/2014, p. 61). When we put our lives
in order and declutter our lives we are in essence also discarding those
beliefs and thought processes that don’t resonate with us. I like to think of putting things in order as
a metaphor for putting our ethical and moral ideas in order. We have to continuously revisit and review our
beliefs and values and be willing to make modifications as we learn, grow and
evolve.
References
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