The virtue of Moderation

Virtue: Moderation

Moderation is an idea that most people never consider in their lives. Many of the hardships that plague individuals, and even the world at large, are the result of over indulgence. Living a life of moderation can affect everything from personal and worldly health to financial stability for everyone.

To understand how moderation can help us we first need to understand what moderation means. Moderation is the quality or act of avoiding extremes and excesses; it is temperance in every action.

We Americans over indulge when it comes to food and drink. It’s something you can see simply by looking at the adults and children around us. We are a nation of over weight people that spend billions each year over indulging in food then trying desperately to figure out why we are over weight. Our being over weight causes heart disease as well as diabetes and strokes, three of the leading causes of death in America. Through moderation of the types and amounts of food we eat, individuals can start losing weight which decreases health issues. The decrease in the food intake will also begin to lower the stress placed on the Earth to maintain the demand of crops for the over indulgent. This would help with the fertility of the Earth, allowing for healthy growth to keep our home healthy.

Many financial issues for people are caused in many cases because of a lack of moderation in spending money. We live in a society that is driven to have the newest greatest gadgets and fashions on the market. We update technologies in our homes at a frightening rate simply to have the newest best thing.  If we control our spending by buying things that need to be replace because it is broken, outdated beyond being useful, or worn out there would be less money going out in households. Another very good reason I can see would be to buy a product that would help the reducing in a household’s consumption of energy. This is showing the use of moderation as well, helping not only our bank accounts but helping to keep the Earth safe and healthy. Also if instead of eating out every night we instead eat at home more often we will save money. With saving money there is less stress in our lives from always being short on cash. When there is less stress, life becomes much more enjoyable. And as stated before this kind of moderation will also call for less resources being needed, which will put less stress on our planet.

But moderation can also help prevent people from becoming zealots in the causes they take up. We live in a world where religion is a very important part of most people’s lives. In nearly ever faith there are zealots that spring up, in some cases many of them within individual religions. This zealot behavior has been the cause of many conflicts between countries as well as individual religious groups. Examples are the wars between Jewish and Islamic peoples in Israel, the Palestinian groups and the Indian nation, Catholics and Protestants in Ireland, and most recently Christian and Islamic zealots that have lead to terrorist attacks on America. I personally believe that if we simply showed moderation in how we express our religious beliefs and how we show them to others, our world would be a much safer happier place to live.

Moderation is a virtue that will lead people into happier healthier lives as well as allowing the Earth we live on to become healthier because of less demand for its limited resources. Moderation will also allow for life to prosper and advance towards a state of harmony.