The Gift of Character – Having Virtues

By Daria Campbell

I think there are certain words that people consider “old fashioned”. Virtues is one of those words. You don’t hear people saying to one another, “You are so virtuous” or “You live a virtuous lifestyle”, do you? No, in fact I do not think we even think about it and tend to take the people who have strong characters for granted. So, I have decided this year, I am going to focus on virtues and how they relate to employment and job seeking.

Over the next 11 months I will look at virtues like: Assertiveness, Caring, Cleanliness, Commitment, Compassion, Confidence, Consideration, Cooperation, Courage, Courtesy, Creativity, Detachment, Determination, Diligence, Enthusiasm, Excellence, Flexibility, Forgiveness, Friendliness, Generosity, Gentleness, Helpfulness, Honesty, Honor, Humility, Idealism, Integrity, Joyfulness, Justice, Kindness, Love, Loyalty, Moderation, Modesty, Orderliness, Patience, Peacefulness, Perseverance, Purposefulness, Reliability, Respect, Responsibility, Self-discipline, Service, Tact, Thankfulness, Tolerance, Trust, Trustworthiness, Truthfulness, Understanding and Unity.

When you looked at the paragraph did you just see a group of words or did things stir in your soul? Did you think, “no one can be all of that! It is impossible!” or did you think, “Wow, yeah I really need to work on that one virtue in my life”?

Now there is a lot there. More than 11 months’ worth. However, I may lump a few that are similar together and write an article or I may just pick out the ones that seem to be needed most right now or at the time I am writing the article. I might get to all of them by the end of the year or I may not. The point is that I get you thinking about Virtues. Looking at them and asking yourself, “how many of these virtues do I display on a daily basis at work?”  Then expand it. How many do you also display in your home? How many do you display in your day to day life?

Virtues are slowly slipping away from society’s consciousness and I think there is nothing wrong with speaking about what is fundamentally right in human nature. What we could achieve if we really wanted to. What would the world look like if everyone worked on just one of these virtues in their life, to put it at the front of their minds and really take hold of the principals behind these virtues.

So, I will meet you back here in February and I will begin my series. “What will it be on Daria?”  No telling. You will just have to come back and read it for yourself.  Happy New Year.