NIKA LEANDRA'S BOOKS

Virtually Virtue- Less  Hi everyone! - The Greek philosopher Plato named Justice, Courage, Wisdom, and Temperance as the four main virtues man should live by. Later Ambrosius referred to these as the four Cardinal Virtues. Having ruled first Europe and eventually other parts of the world with an iron fist for more than two thousand years, the Catholic Church certainly left their mark as well. Consequently they added three more virtues, presumably to make it seven altogether, as we all know, the number 7 is a Divine number. These are Faith, Love, and Hope. - No matter how hard I try to sincerely spot virtues at all nowadays, I just don't seem to detect any. Our society, I'm afraid, has clearly got out of touch as far as practicing virtues. Sure, without at least a little effort, nothing ever gets done or can be easily maintained. And so it goes without saying that none of these virtues are just effortlessly handed to us. To my understanding, virtues are acquired through life experience and can only be fully understood and applied later in life. However, the elders are definitely called upon passing the wisdom about virtues on to their offspring when they grow up basically to imprint these precious values not just in their family's but also in society's matrix. And here is exactly where I have seen a gradual but exponentially multiplying spread of crap filling a void caused by the absence of virtues. So what, one might say here, just look at how our institutional idols, icons, heroes, and leaders we look up to such as the government, the legislation, the system, etc. keep it with virtues like Justice, Courage, Wisdom or Temperance. True, one indeed has a good point there, since there is apparently not one single virtue in sight. So, how are we supposed to behave any differently, better or morally more balanced? Well, unless we care what kind of world our coming generations will live in, why would we even want to? Really? We shouldn't even think let alone act like this because our ancestors cared for us as well. The future clearly belongs to our kids, and thus we owe it to them to keep the ball rolling. Generally speaking, we as a society have let ourselves go way too much within the last 25 to 30 years. Our kids, grand as well as great- grand kids should be able to look up to us and understand one main principle. The so- called system consists of the very same people who share the very same traits and characteristics we all do. Politicians, lawyers, police, and so on are no aliens but people like you and I. Once we as the forefathers actively re- implement virtues by learning and being taught ourselves again and by letting the next generations partake in this growing process, we all will become a better, more caring and more tolerant society. Faith, too is something that's usually spread with and among your loved ones if existent, of course. Love and Hope are the fruits that Faith reaps, as I understand it. If I could add another virtue, this would be Honesty as without honesty there is no clarity whatsoever leading to Justice, Courage, Wisdom, Temperance, Faith, Love, and Hope.