Currently, my father is not proud at the way I conduct myself. He is unhappy with several flaws in my character. The consequences of these flaws are that they may prevent me from achieving my goal as a constitutional lawyer. This state of affairs is not acceptable to me. I have cherished this goal for a long time and I am determined to achieve it.
Recently my father censured me for my mendacity or lack of truthfulness. He is correct in his accusation. I do lie. The question is why do I lie? A recent example was when my mother told me to tell Pris to take out the trash. I forgot to tell her. When my mother questioned me about it, I tried to hide my mistake by telling a lie. I had been distracted on my ipad and I was embarrassed to admit it. I fully acknowledge my mistake, I do lie on small issues, but it is normally when I get forgetful, distracted, or lazy about something. It is never because I want to be rebellious or obnoxious.
However, lying does result in the lack of trust and it is better to admit mistakes than to try to cover them up with lies. I need to stop lying and embrace virtue. The word virtue is a Latin word that is associated with the Latin word for man, Vir. Virtue is to display manly qualities. But what are manly qualities?
The Greeks had a word, Arete, which meant “Excellence”. All things possess an arete. For example, the arete of a knife is to cut things. Hence it has to be sharp. A blunt knife is still a knife, but it has no arete. It is not a good knife. Likewise, the arete of a light bulb is to be bright enough to cast light. A dim lightbulb is still a light bulb but not a good lightbulb because it has lost its arete. The Greek philosopher Aristotle identified man’s arete or excellence to be virtue. Being virtuous is excellence at being a human. But what does virtue entail?
The Greek philosopher Plato identified four classic virtues. They are courage, wisdom, temperance, and justice. Courage is the bravery to confront fear and intimidation. Wisdom or prudence is to decide which course of action is appropriate in certain circumstances. Temperance is moderation in behavior and the self-control to avoid extremes and excesses of behavior. Justice is fairness in dealing with others.
It is easy to say these words but difficult to identify what they really mean. What is courage, and how do you know that you are displaying it? Aristotle said that courage is the middle way between two extremes, cowardice and foolhardiness. It is not the middle point, but a point somewhere between the two extremes which changes from situation to situation and time to time. However, we instinctively know when courage is being displayed. Anybody who has watched the video of the unknown man stopping a line of tanks in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989 readily identifies courage. Another example of courage was when my father tried to break up a fight between older boys when he was young. He was courageous because he did the right thing despite his fear.
Temperance or moderation is avoiding excesses which allow us to enjoy whatever we are doing as long as we do not do it too much. It also leaves us time to do other things. If you do things in excess, you will not enjoy them or look forward to them.
Prudence is where you control yourself by the use of reason rather than emotion. It comes from the Latin Prudentia which means foresight or insight. One uses prudence to judge between virtuous and wicked actions, such as in why someone might lie, and also what is the appropriate response at a given time and place. Prudence is used to distinguish between actions which might be courageous or reckless. Prudence is based on goodwill which is without evil intent and will not cause trouble for others. Knowledge or wisdom used for evil intentions is cunning.
Justice means being fair to the other person who might even be unfair towards me. Take for example a situation where Zaki, the team captain for basketball, always picks me last. I would not be just picking him last in order to get back at him if I were team captain. Being just is to pick him on merit and not revenge.
Everybody thinks they know the difference between virtues and vices. Wisdom and strength are praised while lying and theft are denounced. However, things are not that easy to label. Lying can be virtuous. In a situation where telling the truth could cause harm to some innocent people, a lie is the virtuous thing to say. Theft can also be virtuous. Taking something away from somebody without their permission and refusing to give it back would be the virtuous thing to do if you believed they were going to use some implement to inflict grievous harm on another person. Similarly, using strength to intimidate weaker people or knowledge to cause distress to others is not virtuous. Vitium non est in rebus sed in animo ipso – Vice is not in one’s actions but in the mind itself. In other words, it’s not what you do, but why you do it. Your actions should be judged by your intentions. Only then can one tell if you are being virtuous. This is where prudence is so important. I think I am beginning to understand what being virtuous means.
Associated with virtue are other qualities introduced by the Romans, Christians, and Muslims. Words like compassion, humor, dignity, tenacity, piety, generosity and patience are really different elements of Plato’s four cardinal virtues. The Muslims say that virtue is what contents the soul and comforts the heart. In other words, the right thing to do. When I lied to my mother, my actions might have got me out of trouble, but they did not content my soul or comfort my heart. I felt ashamed. In the future, as long as I can justify my actions as not being harmful to my soul or heart, then I might be acting in a virtuous manner.
I recommend a virtuous life to everybody because you can live content with yourself. Lying detracts from that happy contented life. I, Muhammad Jalal Hussain, am now going to devote myself to a responsible and virtuous life.
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