The Virtuous Man: An Abstract Notion?

It has been a while since I have written, and a lot has happened since January ’18. I enlisted in the Air National Guard and was in training for over 6 months. My beautiful daughter Naomi was born in October, so it all has been one huge learning curve. More on this later. Among many of my goals for this year is blogging on a more regular basis.

For starters, I wanted to share some thoughts I have had for the past few weeks, particularly about living our vocations and following through with the ethics and morals that we value and strive to carry out. For many of us, the concept of fatherhood, the life of holiness, and the quest for adventure remains an abstract concept, and never really becomes grounded in reality to the extent that we desire. Fyodor Dostoevsky writes in the Brothers K: “ The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular.” In other words, it is easy to fall in love with an idea, but when confronted with concrete opportunities, all the fanaticism quickly fades away. The idea of being the best dad is a no brainer, but when given the day to day challenge of doing right by your family, the task becomes daunting and less delectable. The question that I have been asking myself is what is the thing or habit which grounds your aspirations and values in reality? If you truly want to become a saint, what is that daily action that you take which makes that desire rooted in the day to day?

I don’t have any advice, but I think this question is the foundation of the moral life. Our aspirations and ideals should not be the things that comfort us when we go to bed at night. At the closing of every day, we should be at peace with ourselves that we have been accountable, and have lived by our code to the best of our ability. This peace is the confirmation that we are not living in a world of abstract notions, but have successfully bore fruit.