Quoteworthy - Waiterrant

I was reading through Waiterrant's post about his parking encounter with two senior ladies. He says a few things about character and virtue that I think are worth quoting:


"Dad always said virtue is its own reward."


"Suddenly I remember what my old sociology professor once taught me, 'A value doesn't become a value until you suffer for it.' He wasn't kidding."


"Now, you might think I'm being vain glorious here. You might say that people suffer, really suffer, for values everyday. Think of human rights activists imprisoned in Burma, soldiers fighting in Iraq, hunger strikers starving to protest governmental oppression. Those people are really suffering for a value.

But most of us aren't peace activists, soldiers, or revolutionaries. We're just well fed people trying to stumble through life the best we can. It’s in the little struggles, like giving up your seat on the subway, writing a check to the Salvation Army instead of buying a gadget you don't need, or biting your tongue when a friend says something stupid, that we suffer for values everyday. Character is forged in the smallest of struggles. Then, when the big challenges come, we're ready. Or so I like to tell myself."

(italics are mine)


Cheers,
Kev