Precise Virtue

"When men reduce their virtues to the approximate, then evil acquires the force of an absolute; when loyalty to an unyielding purpose is dropped by the virtuous, it's picked up by the scoundrels--and you get the indecent spectacle of a cringing, bargaining traitorous good and a self-righteously uncompromising evil." John Galt, Atlas Shrugged

Consider this quote when you look at the world stage today, particularly at the West and its posture in relation to terrorists.

While considering the world as it is today, don't lose sight of the world as it can and ought to be. In the face of the cynic, assert the romantic.

How?

The answer in in Galt's observation. Specifically, don't let your virtue lapse into the approximate. Know precisely why you are good and why those you love are good. Embrace that knowledge as an integral, spiritual part of embracing those closest to you. Tell them how good they are and why.

That's an expression of love as well as an act of justice. The emotion is personal but the moral knowledge can be shared, one rational soul at a time. Therein lies the seed of the slow chain reaction that can and will change the world.

I'll end with the last line from Galt's speech. It echoes the quote above. "Fight with the radiant certainty and the absolute rectitude of knowing that yours is the morality of life and yours is the battle for any achievement, any value, any grandeur, any goodness, any joy that has ever existed on this earth." Don't let it go.