The Qualities of Good Characters Essay Example

Introduction

Virtues is defined in the dictionary as behavior showing high moral standards. A person's virtues reflect their characteristics, morals, and overall well being in life. This begs the questions which virtues reflect a good moral compass, and show that an individual is doing good and is fulfilling “the good life”. These questions can be tackled about and answered in several different ways each with their own unique and elaborate response. To illustrate this there are several different types of virtues that can be used to answer this question. However, I feel like that is the best virtue to have in order to answer the question of “what virtues are essential for an individual to have a good character and live well”  are bravery, humour and honesty. I think these virtues touch a lot of important things that help one fulfill a life full of good and prosperity that reflects their good character. Each of these virtues show a strong yet gentle person. By having these virtues the person can reflect different types of characteristics of a person showing different elements and different morals as well.

Bravery

When speaking about bravery it is very easy to get confused. A brave person doesn't have to be a stereotypical strong, muscaluar, and tall man but it can be the complete opposite. To me bravery is the ability to confront fear and pain even though it's unpleasant . I think this is a very important virtue to have for several reasons. Being brave means you're willing to stand up for yourself and get out of your comfort zone doing things you don't want to do in order to achieve what lies behind fear. I feel like bravery is subjective to what you fear so even if the fear is irrational, overcoming it shows character and shows how you are able to do the right thing even though fear may drive you away. If this virtue is used morally it shows a strong mindset which is beneficial to live “the good life” . Showing this virtue in my own life has been difficult. There have been a few scenarios in my life where I wish I had been more courageous and brave, being able to overcome my fear in order to feel the reward of it after. However there have been a few times where I have set my fears aside. To illustrate, in early August I had tryouts for the Wake Tech soccer team, before the tryouts I was afraid, worried, I was filling up with anxiety and my palms were sweating. I knew I had the ability to make the team and I knew that I was better than most of the guys there but I also knew if I let my fears take over me I would play like a five year old. I knew I had to lose my fear in order to show the coach my abilities and how I would be a valuable member to the team. So I settled down and played like I normally do calm but aware I forgot about my fears which allowed me to play cool and collective making the game seem easy which allowed me to join the team. This is just a small case in which I overcame my fears of failure aside, I knew if I let those fill me up my emotions would get the best of me. Bravery is a sum of a person's character, its virtue many people desire, to be able to take fear by the horns and  conquer it. This is why I feel it is an essential virtue.

Humour

To most people Humour is something that's  not necessary, something that people look past. To me Humour is much more than that. To me humour is more than just being funny, it's the ability to turn a negative situation into a positive one by laughter and making people smile. I think humour is a very unique virtue because not everyone is humorous or not every one automatically has this virtue. I think humour is something you adapt or are born with. I think Humour is an essential virtue because it allows someone to turn negative emotions into positive ones. It can change sadness to happiness and that's something a lot of people take for granted. Humour makes a bad circumstance not so bad, allowing it to be easier for you to see the finish line at the end of the tunnel. This virtue makes life easier, this is why I feel like it's so essential and it allows living “the good life” seem much more attainable. I think humour is a virtue I reflect well on and I've found it to be very helpful especially in situations that aren't the most cheerful. To illustrate this last year one of my friends was going through a hard time. They were facing family problems and saw no way out of it. I knew I couldn't do much especially because I was just a highschool kid with limited resources but when I talked to her I  knew if could take her mind off her situation it wouldn't make seem as bad so by making her laugh I could somehow ease the pain and distract her from her problems even just for a little while. I think humour is one of the most overlooked virtues because it something so simple but it can have such a big impact one someone this why I feel like its so essential to have in order to make life seem easier 

Honesty

Honesty is a virtue everyone hopes everyone else has. Honesty is the subjective virtue in my opinion. It's hard to tell the truth but it's so  easy to lie. Honesty is the ability to be truthful even though telling the truth is hard. Honesty is such a complicated virtue to understand because sometimes the truth can be hard and it causes more issues than telling a lie. Being honest really shows a person's morals and character. It shows that they are able to do the right thing even though doing the right thing may cause more issues, it shows they don’t take the easy way out. Being honest is such an important virtue because  it shows a combination of different chcactesritcs and shows that a person can be trusted and shows they are willing to be up front even though it's hard and it shows their morals. Honesty is such a complicated virtue because in some cases it can be good and bad but in general honesty is desirable and leads to rewards. Honesty is a virtue. I wish I had it so hard for me to be honest because I don’t like being the bearer of bad news and I don't like letting people down so it's easier for me to just lie and seem like a good person rather than being honest and telling the truth. The best example of me being honest is when I was hit by someone else's car. I was driving in a parking lot and then a kid popped out of nowhere and I bumped into someone's car to not hit the kid and I automatically started to panic. I was so flustered and worried I didn't know what to do. I wanted to drive off and just avoid the whole situation. I debated driving away but I decided to stay and comfort the person even though everything in my body told me not to. I was honest to the lady. I told her what happened and she comforted me. She said it was going to be ok. She understood what happened was an accident and she didn't even call the police. She said it was ok and let me go home. In this situation driving off was the easy way out, she would have never known it was me who hit her car being honest was a lot harder it was jumping into the unknown I didn't know how she was going to react but thanked me for what I did and my honesty and it didn't turn out so bad. Honesty makes you overcome fear and makes you go out of your comfort zone in order to do the right thing. That's why I find it so important and why it's such an essential virtue.

Conclusion 

The virtues I described in the essay are mostly the ones I struggle with and I feel like if I made more of an effort to be honest, brave and surround others with more humour my life would be a lot better.By doing the hard things and going out of my comfort zone and showing more of thee virtues in my life achieve more and be more trusted ont only benefit my life but others was well. Virtues are such a complex topic because even though I think these three are essential to have I feel like others can also be beneficial as well allowing this question to be answered several different ways.