Sometime last week, not longer after my last post actually, I was at work when a coworker told me that someone had said that he had no virtues. I confronted this person, not necessarily in an offended manner, and asked her why this coworker had no virtues. She had no real answer, but simply laughed and said, “He’s just (insert name of coworker here).” While I realize that that comment was made only in lighthearted jest (as everyone at work knows that it is particularly easy and hilarious to goad this coworker into some semblance of annoyance), it got me thinking about virtue.
Is there such a thing as a person with absolutely no virtues? Is there someone out there or in the annals of history who is completely devoid of redeeming qualities? Before I go further, I suppose I should clarify what I mean by “virtue”. Objects in general have what is called a normative virtue, that is, they have a distinct purpose for their existence, like the virtue of a knife is to cut. But “virtue” can also have a moral value. What I mean by “virtue” is simply something that most people in society could classify as “good” about a person. Is there something about the person that you could say is nice, however small? I realize that this definition is highly subjective, but then again most things involving morals, values, or ideals seem to be that way.
Being a recent psychology graduate, I tend to focus on the more psychological side of things if I can, so I’m reminded of Seligman and Peterson’s research and book “Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification”. This a psychological book in the positive tradition, and is an attempt to classify and measure the universal strengths and virtues (obviously) that are applicable to the widest possible range of human cultures. They found six broad categories of virtues:
wisdom and knowledge (creativity, curiosity, open-mindedness, love of learning, etc)courage (bravery, persistence, integrity, vitality) humanity (love, kindness, social intelligence)
justice (citizenship, fairness, leadership)
temperance (forgiveness and mercy, humility and modesty, prudence) transcendence (appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, spirituality, hope, humor)
This really seems to cover just about everything. So surely everyone would have something on this list that could apply to them. From what I’ve seen of history, many people, though considered “morally” bad or evil, still have a love of learning, or a desire for their version of fairness. Adolf Hitler is said to have been actually quite the family man, very loving toward the children of his top officers. Granted, his love was only for those select few that passed his admittedly skewed ideals, but the love or affection was nonetheless there. His humanity was simply very limited. For a little story about ‘family man’ Hitler, go here.
I guess in the end I answered my own question pretty easily. Virtues are subjective, and can have nothing whatsoever to do with religion or morality if that is what someone chooses, so in the end it is very likely that at least one virtue could be found in even the most seemingly heinous people, not to mention my rather innocent (by comparison) coworker. Maybe this was a weak topic for a post, but the idea really struck me that someone could be without virtue and still just live anonymously among us, even as a coworker.
On a completely different topic entirely, I’ve been doing some soul searching you might say as to what I should do with my life. I’ve just turned 24, and I feel like options are running out. I have a BA in psychology with an admittedly useless minor in French (which I loved, by the way), and I don’t know where to go next. Right now I think I would be happy just having a job that I like at least somewhat where I don’t come home smelling like hamburgers. I’m working for a grad student on the side as an unpaid research assistant, and I absolutely love the fact that I can wear pretty much whatever I want when I go to work there. But on top of the job hunt, I don’t know if having just a BA will keep my happy and might I add financially secure for very long. I’ve been looking into grad school, but my options feel limited. I don’t want to be stuck in a university doing research for the rest of my life, but at the same time I’m not sure about become a psychologist and doing therapy and all that. I went into psychology honestly because I love studying and learning about people, but I hate the research process. It’s too tedious. Now I’m just ready to get out their and do something in the world, preferably in a nice salaried position with health benefits.
But what do I do, dear readers? Before my 25th birthday comes around, I have a few things I would like to accomplish: first, I would like to lose some weight and get in better shape. I think I’d like to start my next quarter of a century off right. Second, I want to have a job that I’m happy with, though I don’t know what kind of job that would be right now, or where it would be. I would also like to be decided on whether I’m going to grad school or not, and where and for what degree. Third, I’d like to have my own place, with some new friends, and possibly a nice significant other to invite over occasionally.
See, I’m not really asking for much I guess. The weight thing is my own issue, one that I have unfortunately struggled with for some time. I find it hard to motivate myself to go to the gym and lay off the sweet foods. Bad me, I know. The job/school thing is a big issue for me because I don’t know if I want to stay in Oklahoma. I’m really considering going to Connecticut to be near my brother, but that scares and saddens me a bit. I’d be losing my friends, and I’d be far away from most of my family for an extended amount of time. But I know I need to do what’s best for me. While I really would like to stay in the city I’m in and be near my friends and family, I also need to figure out what I’m missing in my life, and how to be happy.
Any advice, readers? I know one of you has really pushed for me to move to one of the coasts, but what about everything else? I think I’ll give my brother a call sometime this week and talk to him about all this. We haven’t really been very close lately, but I could really use his input.
As always, you’ve all been wonderful. ^_^
-Liridon
