In his memoir Travels With Charley John Steinbeck writes: “We value virtue but do not discuss it. The honest bookkeeper, the faithful wife, the earnest scholar get little of our attention compared to the embezzler, the tramp, the cheat.”
I suspect he’s correct, especially these days. Virtue isn’t very hot. Do we really want to read (or see the movie version of) The Postman Always Rings Once? Or Single Indemnity? Because aren’t we now, each of us, unwilling extras in the frightening national reality show, waiting breathlessly for the latest offensive offense? For that Fifth Avenue gunshot or the racist rant or the newest and brightest Armageddon-edge brought on by the seemingly never-ending horror, the daily and oh-so-highly visible avian distribution of one or more of the Seven Deadly Septet? We’d prefer to look away. But then we might miss something.
The Virtues may feel, on first (or second or third) acquaintance, bland. Goody two-shoes. Nyah-nyah. And they are, actually, for most of us, difficult to live by, especially when there seems to be no need. Except when there is. And so, seven brief takes on the Saintly Seven.
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. (1500 - 1550). Prudence Retrieved from http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/fdf53b40-63d4-0133-7314-00505686d14e
FAITH
The earth will be there
Beneath my feet
When I take my next step.
The sun will rise and
There will be a day
In which I breathe
And can
Reach out.
HOPE
The light around the corner
Is bright. And there will be
Friends with smiles
To greet me.
CHARITY
On the subway,
The Doo-Wop guys
Folded newspapers for rhythm
Harmony in their souls
Always end their bop with
“Smile, it won’t
Mess up your hair.”
FORTITUDE
After the knockdown
Getting up is never easy
Facing it is hard.
But sometimes
The answer is just
Doing
The next right thing.
JUSTICE
Stand whenever you are able.
Those scales need all the
Help they can get
Especially today
When telling the truth
Is an act of courage.
TEMPERANCE
Find that Golden Mean
Not too much
Not too little
Didn’t your Grandmother
Remind you:
“Enough is as good as a feast?”
PRUDENCE
Wisdom, judgment,
Looking before leaping,
Stopping to think,
Before acting.
Your parents may have told you “Virtue is its own reward.” When you’re six, the phrase is pretty much a conundrum. Now that I’m older, I’m still thinking. I’ll let you know.