Virtues Of My Life: Order, Courage, Patience Essay, Research Paper

Virtues of My Life: Order, Courage, Patience

In order to survive in 1996, there need to be at least some standards

and goals of morality in a person’s life. Moral excellence is definitely hard

to achieve, but is definitely something to attempt. Personally, there are many

distractions and obstructions the present day provides, creating a difficulty of

direction in my own life. I need to overcome obstacles such as peer pressure in

order to become a confident, successful person. The present day provides

impediments which I believe I can overcome by way of morality and virtue. Order,

courage, patience, and faith are all virtues necessary for personal achievement

in my life.

The first virtue I have chosen is order. In agreement with Russell Kirk,

I also believe that “order is the path we follow, or the pattern by which we

live with purpose and meaning.” Order is something that directs in our

everyday lives, a working condition we cannot live without. Without order there

is chaos, and with chaos there is room for little virtue. Order is important

because it provides life with stability and direction. As an example of a

personal order, the school schedule which governs my academic studies is a type

of order, setting specifics of where and when I should be. Order helps in my

life if I am able and willing to create a schedule for each day, specifically

stating when I should be doing what. If I can achieve order in my own life,

worries and concerns will be eliminated by means of order that will easily

become habit. Russell Kirk also states, “Order is the first need of the soul.

It is not possible to love what one ought to love, unless we recognize some

principles of order by which to govern ourselves.” Because of the needs of our

soul, I again agree with Russell Kirk that religion, morality itself, and our

everyday feelings are derivatives of order. Nothing can be achieved without

some sort of order, but we must first recognize that the things we desire can be

achieved only by gaining order. Order is truly the first need of human life.

Courage is the second virtue I have chosen. Courage is a virtue needed

to conquer fear or despair. The virtue of courage is important because it can

be applied in numerous situations. If people possess courage, they can be

strong and stable in situations where they might feel uncomfortable. Since

there are many things in life which are stressful and unfamiliar, such as

apprehension of the first day on a job, first day at a new school, or what you

will find behind door number two, courage will allow you to overcome these

suspicions and fears. Personally, courage will help me become more confident in

the activities in which I participate. I can feel better about myself and not

be so timid, but at the same time, courage is not something which I can abuse.

If courage is abused it can easily generate into conceit or egotism. Egotism

can easily be obtained by overworking courage. Courage levels out to be the

happy medium between bashfulness and conceit.

The third virtue I have chosen which will hopefully lead to self-

improvement is patience. Patience is the tolerance and the ability to wait.

Patience is necessary for life because throughout life there is waiting to be

done. Because half of life is spent in waiting, there are few desirable

alternatives to being patient. If people are not patient, they can easily

become frustrated and stressed when they realize the length of time they may

have to wait. Patience is a required trait, and there are absolutely no

shortcuts for waiting. Personally, patience can be applied to my life because

there is suspense and waiting for the rest of my life and there is no

alternative for even my own waiting. I must wait to become an adult at 18, I

must wait to reach the legal drinking age, I must wait to finish high school and

college, and I must wait to marry the love of my life. It is not possible to

age faster, finish college.