A THIN LINE

Virtue and vice are more or less antonyms when it comes to the overall conduct of a person. This will mean opposite attributes or at the least the distant ends of a continuum. In reality however, there can be just a thin line between virtue and vice. So to speak, a virtue can suddenly become viewed as if it were a vice.


For example, I have always intuitively leaned towards peace-making when there is a squabble in my environs. These days I find that my instincts to being the “middle man” has been un-preferred by folks. Not that they do not see the good gesture but they would rather have it otherwise. In a world of egos and pride, I have come to expect this as a probable outcome when my good virtues are let loose.

Whether virtue is heeded or not should not deter its expression. This in itself is what makes it a virtue. Whether people applaud it or not, the world needs it. If there was any thin line over which virtue becomes a vice, it is a reflection of people’s perception, individualized and a mere impulse to prove a point. Who does not want to have the last laugh after all?

Life is deeper than this though. If one is to react to every assault, the responsibility of our lives will be others’ reserve. No loss is greater than the loss of one self, at the expense of getting even none the less. That thin line, if it does exist must be ignored if one is to be true to one’s real self; a self that transmits inherent value i.e. virtue.