Values, virtues and vices

In my humble opinion I believe it has much to do with moral and spiritual upbringing and the understanding and practice of the virtues. Whatever happened to the teaching of the virtues? Seemingly they are being ignored or replaced by values, which are different things (virtues and values) but are often mistaken to be the same.

Virtues are the essence of the human spirit that add to the positive content and quality of one’s personality, moral strength and reputation and are part of the common elements of good character and spirituality that are usually universally accepted by most faiths and cultures. There are too many virtues to list all but these include compassion, caring, forgiveness, humility, honesty, integrity, service, kindness, courage, love, respect (for self and others) … just to name a few.

Values (on the other hand) are whatever each individual considers to be important, worthy and/or desirable to oneself. Values can be anything from money to the need for attention or to become powerful and famous, with or without, wanting to seek ways to cultivate connection with the virtues, which would undoubtedly give more depth and positive direction to one’s character and lifestyle choices.

There are also vices (the opposite of virtues) which can be viewed as various forms of weakness, immoral conduct or any over-indulgence of something that detract from our character. Just to list a few, these include greed, jealousy, hate, intolerance, disrespect, dishonesty, self-centredness, pride, hypocrisy and a host of other negative traits, which unfortunately most, if not all, of us fall prey to at some point in our lives and which can destroy us (and others) if we are not careful or strong enough to learn how to resist these basic instincts that tend to tempt us all, at times.

Unfortunately our society now seems to have an imbalance where good qualities are often overshadowed by what is bad or shallow. Much of this instability is from a breakdown or downright moving away from moral and spiritual virtues that used to be passed down and taught to the younger folks by their parents, guardians, teachers, other care-givers and role-models. Today, if you look around and observe people, in general, you’d be amazed to find that many do not care or have a clue as to what comprises virtuous choices and therefore values are anything that can be reached for that can make one feel good, sometimes just momentarily, with no wish to consider what happens either the next day or further into the future. Even some persons in leadership roles, do not deserve such positions as many do not seem to possess or display qualities of good character that should be a prime “qualification” necessary for being a leader and role model.

Sadly, too many folks seem to think they do little or no wrong, even when caught in situations that glaringly show there is a problem within themselves, their home, their work, ministry or other capacity. Few persons acknowledge the fact that when something goes wrong under their care, administration or jurisdiction that they should accept liability, apologise and then take the proper course of action needed to transform things positively. It would seem that the preferred pattern is to dodge the bullet and relevant issues by looking for scapegoats to lay blame on or divert attention elsewhere.

How then can we expect of our younger generation to behave, especially those with little or no moral education and upbringing, if many in our adult population (from politicians and parents to pastors and police officers) who are the persons in positions of authority and the leaders, caregivers, teachers and role-models in our nation are failing miserably in executing their roles, properly and responsibly.

D S D'Andrade-Lashley

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