The philosophy of virtue edited manna

“I was born In Sunninghill in 2007 and we spend most of our lives moving from town to town because of my father’s work. We settled in Hartbeespoort, and I love it here.

I have two siblings and love reading books, playing basketball and soccer. Science, nature, and history interests me, and I love watching documentaries.

There is a song by HHP that goes… “I’m sorry for that, but I’m happy that you gave birth to a man, who’s in fact becoming a symbol of virtue”. I was so touched by these lyrics. Not only did I love the song, but it gave me a meaningful message. I wanted to be that virtuous person. An example to those around me. I thought about it and realized that to become a symbol of virtue, one must know the meaning of the word “Virtue”, which is “the behaviour of showing high moral standards”. Basically, a person with integrity, dignity, and morality. In a nutshell it means to have high principles. Becoming such a person is not easy in today’s world.

Unfortunately, we don’t have the best examples in today’s celebrities and those are the people kids like me look up to. The celebs that aspire to be symbols of virtue is seen as old fashioned and this is perceived as a negative by the youth of today.

I hope to become a symbol of virtue by respecting others and be respected for that. Not just by looking at people’s abilities, wealth, race, and background. To me, that beggar, the homeless person, the man who guards our community and every hard-working taxi driver deserve respect too.

My mom always says that the choices we make will change our lives, so we must choose wisely. She even had a poster made of this slogan and placed in our room at some point.

As children we always hear about respect, but I guess we don’t always grasp the true meaning of the word. My high school teacher asked the other day that we should think about what the word truly meant, and it hit me hard.

The dictionary talks about it being considerate of the feelings, wishes and rights of others. All people have wishes that others should consider but unfortunately humanity doesn’t always care that much about respecting others wishes, dignity and rights as human beings.

So, for me, as a teenager, respect is a big step to becoming a symbol of virtue. But most important is building character. After all, Booker T. Washington once said character is power. Character, as I’d put it, is a symbol of virtue because it shows who you are and that’s what life is all about.

Character is defined as the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. So, when I hope to be a symbol of virtue, I have to keep asking; is my character fit for this symbolic journey?

In conclusion, we must ask what a virtuous character would contribute to the world? We have so much to process through social media, apps like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, the list is endless. We like to follow others; see how they live and then get depressed because their life on social media seems perfect. Depression is more relevant now than in our grandparent’s time, I think…… Young people live their lives trying to impress others – thinking their own lives are less interesting.

So, becoming a symbol of virtue will hopefully help me and those around me realize that staying true to our creator is more meaningful and purposeful than the emptiness of trying to fit in aimlessly.

I think that parents should be our symbols of virtue so that we can see and model our lives after them. We should look up to their guidance on preparing us for an unknown future.

Life can be hard, and the lack of such guidance can weaken the next generation.”