Our Seminar

Today in humanities class, we had a seminar about the four cardinal virtues of society, written by Greek philosophers over 2500 years ago. We spoke a lot about our beliefs on how to reach these four virtues, what they were at the essential root, how they affected everyday life. It turned out to be far more in-depth than i ever expected. Our class has a myriad of opinions and ideas concerning how we think the world should be and why. I spoke a bit about what i thought bravery was, in my opinion, how i think it could be achieved. I thought that bravery shouldn't just be something a HUGE it could also be something small, like talking to your friend, or standing up to a bully, that could be considered brave.

My peers had amazing ideas about other topics, the other virtues in mind: prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice. for example, when we had the discussion about whether walking into a lions den was bravery or stupidity. I found that its all a matter of perspective. To some, saving a child is to be seen as something to be commended, something brave beyond all reason. And to others, is to seen as the opposite. Why save the life of someone who you care not for? What does this for to you? Some people are truly happy with living their lives with not helping anyone ever, and its just part of their personality. Personally, im of both natures. I would try to help someone in need as much as possible, but there would always be a moment when i would wonder why i am doing it. Wonder why i am being good, why i am being charitable, because it does nothing FOR me. It may make me feel warm and fuzzy inside, but it doesn't help me physically. It doesn't better my position in this world.

And when it comes to piety, and it being considered ignorance. I believe in that, to some extent. There are some who take piety to the extremes, who take it so much to heart, take it so literally, that they forget human nature, They take a simple slip up as a horrible sin, and end up punishing innocent people for something they did on accident, or with no malintentions. For example, the Salem Witch trials, As far as we know, those women did NOTHING wrong, but they were still cruelly captured, many of them killed heedlessly. I think too much piety blinds us to the world, shields us from the truth of it all.

If i were to continue on about our conversation today, it would take many many pages, i kid you not. So, i believe i will stop here, and leave you with the note that our class has a deeper sense of the world than you can ever imagine.