For three years now I've been devoted to discovering myself from within. Who I am. What makes me, me. What my code is. My mission. The philosophy I will practice every day for the rest of my life.
What has helped me most or who has helped me most, are my two children. Many say children change you, and this is true. How is what matters.
The thought of virtue or being virtuous became clear when looked at through the eyes of my two kids. Be the man I want my son to become and be the man my daughter will trust and respect. Be the man both of them model themselves and their relationships after. How they treat others and how they treat themselves. Additionally, how they allow others to treat them.
It does not mean that I'm this perfect father, that never loses his cool. I raise my voice. I lose control of myself at times. In the larger picture, their eyes remind me what is at stake. Who I must be, every day. The benefit goes to them, of course. Also to me, as my actions mold me to be a better man, person, father, contributor to my community and society. As a writer, thinker and friend. It helps with my generosity, my compassion for others and -although I'm still working at it - patience and tolerance with others.
Virtue is behaving and showing oneself with high internal standards. I am happy to reflect on these three years and counting. The next three will change and so will the next thirty. As we never step in the same river twice; as the river has changed and so have we. Like watching a movie for the fourth time, you grab something you missed the other times. The passage of time reveals what we have yet to learn.