What's Your Fortune?

Last week, after a long day at work, we decided to order out for dinner and we decided on Chinese. Like the 100's of times before in my life, we got a bunch of fortune cookies with our meal. Most of the time the sayings are usesless or meaningless, especially when the fortune cookie company does literal translations from Chinese to English. ("Never drive a flat car with tires.") But once in awhile, the cookie crumbles and the little slit of paper offers some thought-provoking wisdom. I got one of those last week. Here's what it said:

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point."

According to medieval Cathlolic writings, there are four Cardinal virtues: prudence (deciding and acting wisely); justice (loving your neighbor); temperance (self-control or restraint); and courage (fortitude, bravery, valor). According to my fortune cookie (I think), when we are required in a given situation to act with prudence, or demonstrate justice, or respond with temperance, we will need courage to do those things. 

For example, when a teenager stands up to others who are bullying another student...that requires courage to act. Loving one's neighbor is easy to do in our minds, but acting on that virtue takes courage. Or in a situation where someone is asked by friends to do something destructive or plain stupid "just for fun", it takes courage to say 'no' and risk alienation. We've all been there. In many of those circumstances it wasn't knowledge of right and wrong that let us to the right or wrong actions, but the presence or lack of courage. 

I'm certainly not an expert on medieval notions of virtues and vices, but I guess I know enough to see the wisdom in this fortune cookie. 

I never know the source of my next blog post. Who would have thought that an order of lo mein and an egg roll would bless me with one.