Just how Benjamin Franklin tried to reach moral perfection by achieving his thirteen virtues, I tried doing the same but on a smaller scale. Instead of choosing thirteen virtues and working on them, I chose three and tried to concentrate on achieving them. The three virtues I chose to work on the past three days were silence, justice, and industry.
Silence was the one virtue that I had a hard time dealing with. Usually I would have no problem achieving perfection with this virtue. However, I had soccer practice on Thursday and Friday and I kept on yelling at some of my teammates out of frustration. Saturday was a completely different story. I was at home the whole day so silence came naturally. I did not yell at anyone nor did I say anything that I was not supposed to.
Justice in my opinion is one of the most basic virtues to have in order to reach moral perfection. It was the one virtue that I completely achieved without breaking any of the rules. I did not commit any crimes, hurt anyone, or steal. I knew that this virtue would be easy to accomplish because I usually avoid doing those wrong deeds in the first place. Other than just avoiding crimes, I am always with friends who try to stay away from doing anything wrong which influences me to do the same.
Throughout the three days I was somewhat productive in a positive way. Industry means doing something productive throughout the day that will be beneficial for either you or another person. I finally started typing my essay for a college class which was overdue by two weeks. I also finished my biology lab in one day which was productive. However, every night I played FIFA13 until 2:00 A.M. Other than just that, I was on espn.com all three days to see if I was winning my fantasy football and basketball games. I am currently losing in both. Being on the computer for such a long time reduced the time that I could have used to do something productive.
Silence is for sure one of the most difficult virtues to perfect. People do not remember that they are trying to stay silence and once that spark ignites, they burst. Moral perfection in general is difficult and the three you chose are a great way to become a better person.
ReplyDeleteI think the whole point of silence is to control yourself specifically when you're around other people. Maybe the reason you could not control yourself was because you had a lot of pressure on you from the upcoming games. Industry on the other hand was very beneficial to you and even though you did useless activities like play FIFA or suck at fantasy sports, i think that sometimes you need a break after finishing up a lab report and an essay. Sometimes you need to relax your brain.
ReplyDeleteYou choosing three of the hardest virtues is impressive. Even though you were not able to be completely perfect in them, you for sure were able to work on them. Silence is one of the hardest virtues, in my opinion. You being on the soccer team shows how hard silence can be because sometimes your teammates can frustrate you. I congratulate you though for your hard work.
ReplyDeleteCompleting all three virtues is truly impossible, and as much as you had done is a great accomplishment. You were able to organize your day to be productive. Justice, as you mentioned in your essay, was completed easily. And you chose silence as one of the three virtues, which is one of the hardest in my opinion. You did great and you managed to complete two out of three virtues. Awesome job.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to see that you have chosen three virtues that do not match my own. Silence, seems to have been one of the most difficult tasks from the thirteen virtues. I do not blame you what so ever for not fully succeeding and "perfecting" the virtue of Silence. Especially in a sport, it is nearly impossible to keeps one's mouth closed and not yell out of frustration. However regarding your second virtue, it may be considered common sense to not steal or break rules, but among teenagers common sense is not so common. Therefore, I commend you! Lastly, your final virtue seems to be the most stressful one of all. I can not help, but sit on my computer for hours and waste precious time that could have been spent on homework. However, in a sense you did make up for all the time spent on unnecessary object by completing your biology homework ahead of time and by at last finishing up your college essay. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteEven though you did not succeed in the three virtues you chose, trying to perfect yourself in the first place is a great accomplishment. Trying you make yourself better is difficult and no one can be perfect, so good effort in trying. You did pick three very difficult virtues, which in my opinion shows you're a hard worker and want to be better. Great job in trying though.
ReplyDeleteThe three virtues you chose to accomplish were the type that seems easy to do, but with the slightest distraction, can throw throw you off and cause you to break them. Silence is the one thing I thought you would master with ease, but the circumstances you mentioned were reasonable. Justice as well, I felt that you would be capable of accomplishing. Although, industry is a difficult one to accomplish. Living in the twenty-first century there are a countless number of distractions we have that can easily cause us to not be productive. I do not blame you for failing to accomplish this virtue because of the FIFA13 which is the one game that one can not put down once starting, which is not the most productive thing in the world.
ReplyDeleteMost of the time, it is virtually impossible for one to complete any of these virtues thoroughly, as our unconscious mind sometimes tempts us to commit actions one is not supposed to. Especially during soccer practice, staying quiet is not something one should be proud of, as their voice must be heard. Justice was probably the easiest one out of the thirteen virtues, as most of the people you probably know are not criminals or juveniles, so you are never negatively influenced. As for industry, being productive is something I always strive for, just like you. You did a great job staying productive over the weekend, because most of us usually leave our work for the last day. I congratulate you for your success, but as you also mentioned, when you are working, your mind should not be on activities such as checking your fantasy sports scores.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to read that throughout the weekend, you were somewhat productive, truthful, and not screaming at anyone for a topic that might aggravate a soccor player like yourself. It is always important to keep calm and tame yourself from frustrating situations. I hope that you achieved moral perfection in a sense that you were satisfied with the actions that you performed throughout the weekend.
ReplyDeleteArek, even though you did not succeed at accomplishing all of your virtues, you at least tried. You seemed to go through with the virtues halfway and almost succeeded. I am sure that one day you can succeed at the two virtues, in which you had not fully accomplished. I, myself, have the same problem as well because I use technology every day and it would be hard for me to succeed at industry. I can see how you did not really succeed at silence because you only wanted your team to win and with all the pressure around you, it might have been hard to keep quiet. Though, I am glad to see that you succeeded at justice and are choosing the right people to be with, especially at this age and at a time where everyone is doing only what others think is "cool".
ReplyDeleteI am happy to see that both you and I chose two of the same virtues out of the three choices. I give you props for technically accomplishing silence, because I completely failed it. Even though you sat at home and stayed quiet, I have a brother, which means silence is literally impossible. On the other hand, justice was an easy one. I also am happy to see that both you and I picked justice for the same reason, its ease. The coincidence is that it is easy for you and I also for the same reasons. On the note of industry, I award you for being productive on the weekend. With all this said, it sounds like all I did that weekend was yell while I sat down and ate.
ReplyDeleteThe three virtues you decided to achieve were surely difficult. Out of all three virtues, I think silence would be the hardest. I also play sports and get frustrated at my teammates during practices and games and know how it feels. I am glad that you achieved justice quite easily. Your last virtue, industry, is difficult to accomplish nowadays due to all the technology. Even though you got your homework done, you spent a lot of time playing video games which only makes you achieve the virtue half complete.
ReplyDeleteAlthough you were not so successful in all three of the moral virtues you chose to carry out, your efforts are admirable. Especially since you chose three of the more difficult moral values. I understand your frustration on the soccer field. It is is very hard to keep quiet while out there on the field. It is also very difficult to be productive when you have a computer or television in your room also. I often find myself in front of one or the other a few hours out of the day.
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