The One Virtue of Modern Life

In today’s culture and climate all virtues have been abandoned by the wayside except for one: tolerance. For many, it is the end-all, be-all of human interaction; you must be tolerant and accepting to any and all choices another person makes. Beware the cancel culture that will silence any who will dare to not look on in silent (or more importantly spoken) approval of the sinful actions of another! Praise all those tolerant institutions and individuals who open the doors to accept and validate all people and all behavior! This is the core value of and the only virtue of modern moral life. Be lustful, be greedy, be vain, cruel, envious, proud. But for God’s sake be tolerant and accepting of everything!

This modern “virtue” is a direct result of the moral relativism that blossoms in our culture, but even more specifically it is the venomous fruit of the deadly flower of indifference. At the heart of the epidemic of relativism, subjectivism, and tolerance there is an apathetic, indifferent attitude that cannot be bothered to truly care about the good or welfare of others. St. Maximilian Kolbe, speaking in the early 20th Century, said that “Indifference is the most deadly poison of our time.” This is because it is rooted in that rotten fruit that first tempted and tried our first parents. Indifference ultimately stems from pride. Indifference looks inward, it refuses to look out and see the other as an important immortal being with an eternal ordering towards true good and happiness. Indifference turns society into isolated outposts of self. It says, “I cannot be bothered with the other’s actions or their consequences, I am too absorbed in my life. It does not affect me!” From this radical self-absorption tolerance springs forth like an ugly weed  for how can one take the time to criticize or care about another’s actions? Why should anyone care about whether someone’s sinful actions will cause them misery and pain? After all, they are not in MY life so why does it affect me? What is in it for ME? As long as the others' actions do not infringe on me they are something totally separate from my world. The solar system continues to revolve and my ego remains at the center, possessed and undisturbed in blissful, ignorant contemplation of myself. 

Yet this is the antithesis of true virtue, especially that virtue that stands as the center and foundation of the truly Christian ethic: charity. Charity, as it has been famously defined by St. Thomas Aquinas, is “willing the good of the other for the sake of the other.” Notice what word appears, not once, but twice in this definition; a word totally foreign to the Modern egotistical mind: the other. The other does not just exist as a totally separate entity, but virtuous charity demands that one recognizes him and will his good. In the light of charity his temporal welfare, and more importantly his eternal welfare, is truly our problem. And here, this quintessential Christian virtue comes face to face with that chief and king of secular virtue: tolerance.

Tolerance allows the other to go his own way because it is absorbed in its own personal welfare. Charity actively wills and walks with the other to find their good for it sees that they too have an eternal destiny. 

Tolerance allows the other to walk the path of evil (if evil can even be considered to exist) because the other is not in my solar system so what can I do and why should I care? Charity does whatever it can to warn and save those sliding this slippery slope for it wills their eternal happiness and has heeded the invitation to help the other reach that heavenly good. 

The tolerant man sees evil and apathetically shrugs his shoulders in acceptance respecting the “freedom” of the other to make himself a slave. The charitable man fights evil for he desires to see all men on the path to the true freedom that comes from being who they were made to be.

As the moral light of modern society is continually fogged over with the smog of subjective relativism the Christian’s vocation to be “a light to the world” becomes as essential now as it has ever been. We are called to live lives of charitable virtue that see the other within the glow of his immortal nature that was created for union with God. Externally this takes the form of our participation in the prophetic role of Christ that speaks the truth about love, sin, and the eternal destiny of man through our words and in our example. But more importantly, within our own personal, internal lives, it is the call to remember and act in the truth that the other is created in the image and likeness of God. We cannot treat others as a means to an end to be used or ignored in indifference. We must live that life of true virtue that treats others with charity for they are essential and loved parts of God’s creation. Our mission on this earth is to climb the mountain of life, not as individuals, but together as a communion of charity. Then, when we have been gifted the grace to attain that supreme summit of splendor, we may join in that one exalted chorus of praise, together, in the communion of saints.