Top Five Moral Values or Obligations Definitive of a Life Well Lived
One’s character is formed from the combination of their personal moral values. It is difficult to reduce the number of important moral values to only five and to prioritize them. My list was made by first listing every possible moral value of importance to me. Then the values were considered two at a time, pretending that one of them must be deleted. The value that remained on the list was therefore more valuable than the one that must be deleted, so it was moved to a higher position. Eventually five moral values bubbled to the top of the list and the remaining values were discarded.
Faith in God
Faith in God is believing and trusting in God even though His existence and presence cannot be proven. This faith is the first and most important moral value to me, because it gives me a reason to live and is always foremost in my mind as I go about my everyday living. Faith in God is a basic prerequisite for all my other moral values, and so it is ranked first.
Kindness
Kindness is being considerate and respectful of other people’s feelings, being empathetic, compassionate, and supportive. Showing kindness to others leads to receiving kindness from them in return. Friendship and respect would be difficult to attain without kindness. Kindness to animals as well as humans is an undeniably admirable quality. Kindness costs nothing, but giving it away shows others your character, promotes calmness, and reduces or prevents conflict. Kindness, both giving and receiving, promotes happiness and therefore ranks just below Faith in God in my top five moral values.
Moderation
Moderation is the control of emotions, desires, and behavior so that excessiveness is avoided. It means remaining calm while others are angry. It means knowing proper boundaries of extremism and staying within them. It is a moral value which one can learn, adopt, and practice so that radicalism and fanaticism is avoided. Competing in sports, playing games to win, and racing to cross finish lines first, can all be done without being fanatical, hateful, or angry. Moderation is similar to kindness; but kindness is slightly different and more important, therefore moderation ranks just below it.
Honesty
Honesty is truthfulness. I place great value on being honest. Being labeled as a liar would be emotionally awful and would be difficult to overcome. It would be far better to say nothing at all that to lie. I do not believe that a person must always be totally honest, however. There may be cases where lying will save lives, as POWs in Vietnam sometimes encountered. But whenever honesty will not cause harm, it should be practiced. Choosing whether honesty or moderation is a more important moral value is difficult, but I believe that living life in moderation is more helpful to living a worthwhile life than honesty.
Patience
Patience is the ability to wait for crises to pass instead of overreacting in the moment. Raising children requires patience, which means taking time to teach and guide children without becoming angry and frustrated. Patience is slowing down to let another driver get in front of you. Patience is waiting until Christmas to open that package instead of peeking. Patience reduces stress, which is necessary for leading a healthy life, but honesty is more definitive of a life well-lived. So, patience must be ranked below honesty in my list.
Five Moral Vices That I Consider to be Among the Worst
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is disrespecting God. Saying or doing something that is profoundly profane borders on committing what the Bible says is an unforgiveable sin. Purposely leading someone in a direction away from God, or lying about God, is blasphemy. Sometimes people get angry at God and blame him for horrible things that happen in their lives. Sometimes people lose their faith and see no reason to be careful about what they say and do regarding God. These are normal behaviors that humans occasionally display. But feelings about these things will pass if one truly has faith in God. In some cultures, blasphemy is punishable by imprisonment or even death. Therefore, it is vital that one should refrain from blasphemy even if one does not believe in God. Blasphemy can cause eternal consequences, so it ranks first on this list.
Lust
There are different kinds of lust. As examples, there is lust for wealth, lust for power, and lust for sex. Most people would probably like to be wealthy; some would like to be powerful, and many have healthy sexual desires. When liking or wishing for those things exceeds normal levels and becomes obsessive, they become lust. Lust can become all-consuming and can prevent having a life well-lived. Minimizing lust in one’s life can make other vices easier to handle, and so lust ranks as a worse vice than others listed below.
Anger
Anger is manifested in various forms and intensities. There is hatred, resentment, jealousy, and revenge just to name a few. Anger can destroy friendships, cause divorces, and ruin lives. Anger is a normal reaction that everyone experiences sometimes, but it must be controlled and minimized in order to prevent irreparable harm to one’s self and to others. Anger occupies this position on my list because it can be more harmful than the vices listed below but is less harmful than lust can be.
Pride
Pride has many definitions. Negative synonyms of pride include selfishness, vanity, and arrogance, among others. There are good forms of pride, of course, such as pride in one’s appearance, pride in one’s children’s accomplishments, and so forth. But pride can be a vice when it becomes obsessive in negative ways. Being vain is not attractive. Being “too proud” to back down can cause great harm. In creating this list, I believe that anger can be more harmful to everyone, so pride is ranked as a lesser vice than anger.
Cowardice
Cowardice is being afraid to act when action is necessary. Cowardice is not having the courage to stand up for one’s beliefs. Apathy, fear, and the tendency to run away from challenges are forms of or causes of cowardice. Cowardice is being afraid to help someone in need. In combat or times of war cowardice can cause the death or injury of those who need protection. Although cowardice can be a heinous vice, I believe that the other vices on this list are more likely to occur in one’s life, and that the opportunities to display cowardice will be less frequently encountered. So, cowardice ranks at the bottom of my list of the worst five vices.