Essay-a-Week Challenge - Week 10
"July 8th: Virtues I abhor"
Face it. The “upright citizen” can be a real prick sometimes. Pick that one character trait which you think is totally overrated, and tear a strip off of it.
Topics from, A Bookful Blockhead.
I believe that any virtue, or any vice, is good with moderation. Even the "best" virtues can steer one in the wrong direction if over-practised, and there are situations for vices to be appropriate (i.e. A Time for Everything). While it's easy to deride an overdone virtue, which is often what defines said "prick", picking a character trait that is overrated, even in moderation, is a rather challenging task.
I first looked at the seven heavenly virtues and realized I could not honestly write this essay because I don't find any of them to be overrated. Patience and diligence probably being my favourite two, it's also hard to appreciate those who are humble, kind, generous, and tempered. I suppose chastity can be argued as being overrated or irrelevant to much of today's youth, but I see the term as an embodiment of honesty - to oneself and to others - as well as following a healthy lifestyle.
Broadening my search terms for virtues, I found a long list of them and came across confidence. I'm not sure why it stood out - perhaps because Julie Andrews voice has not left my mind since the Mary Poppins post - but I had found my victim. I'm not sure if I've always considered confidence to be a virtue (Wikipedia seems to), but a virtue is defined as a quality or trait perceived as morally good and I would agree that having confidence (thus belief in one's own abilities) is a part of building a strong moral character. I will note that I'm using "confidence" synonymously with "self-confidence"; confidence in others is often referred to as "trust".
Don't get me wrong, confidence is a good thing (and I definitely don't abhor it). It is a trait that's practically a must in the workplace and in leadership. It is a quality we seek in others, and a quality we constantly try to build in ourselves. Confidence is also a dangerous virtue: too much of it can lead to over-confidence, or even arrogance. Confidence is a virtue that must be closely monitored.
In moderation, confidence has become a virtue that everyone expects of you. An impatient person can be seen as a politician who gets things done, a lack of generosity can be seen as a plus in the business world, and humility can often lead to being overlooked in a room of outspoken people. But no confidence? You probably aren't going anywhere.
Confidence is overrated because it is not necessarily reflective of one's actual skills, and society forces people to appear confident even when they are not. Often the confident person will be hired over a less confident person, even if the second person is more qualified. Because of the weight that society places on confidence, the employer may have to use more resources to train the more confident individual, while the second individual's skills go to waste. A rather inefficient system if you ask me.
The latter can be dangerous - pretending to be confident often distorts one's real personality which will emerge in due time anyways. The false confidence not only brings a level of uncertainty and worry to the individual, others may also make assumptions or assign tasks that the individual may be incapable of doing. Yet, putting on an air of confidence is relatively common, if not expected, for job interviews, first dates, and at school. False confidence is not an example of a virtue, nor is it over-confidence, but it is a quality that exists because confidence is so positively viewed, or overrated.
Ultimately, confidence is a good thing, if not great - it can greatly enhance one's ability to perform and it helps to build trust in a community. But as an overrated quality, confidence easily shadows other virtues and can direct focus away from other important traits. Perhaps most of all, everyone has a different level of confidence. In order to build confidence in everyone while avoiding arrogance or false confidence, people must be patient and diligent and give everyone a chance to shine and build their other skills.
As I see it, confidence is a virtue that comes with the others, but viewing it above the others as it is currently overrated, will only lead to more problems.
I first looked at the seven heavenly virtues and realized I could not honestly write this essay because I don't find any of them to be overrated. Patience and diligence probably being my favourite two, it's also hard to appreciate those who are humble, kind, generous, and tempered. I suppose chastity can be argued as being overrated or irrelevant to much of today's youth, but I see the term as an embodiment of honesty - to oneself and to others - as well as following a healthy lifestyle.
Broadening my search terms for virtues, I found a long list of them and came across confidence. I'm not sure why it stood out - perhaps because Julie Andrews voice has not left my mind since the Mary Poppins post - but I had found my victim. I'm not sure if I've always considered confidence to be a virtue (Wikipedia seems to), but a virtue is defined as a quality or trait perceived as morally good and I would agree that having confidence (thus belief in one's own abilities) is a part of building a strong moral character. I will note that I'm using "confidence" synonymously with "self-confidence"; confidence in others is often referred to as "trust".
Don't get me wrong, confidence is a good thing (and I definitely don't abhor it). It is a trait that's practically a must in the workplace and in leadership. It is a quality we seek in others, and a quality we constantly try to build in ourselves. Confidence is also a dangerous virtue: too much of it can lead to over-confidence, or even arrogance. Confidence is a virtue that must be closely monitored.
In moderation, confidence has become a virtue that everyone expects of you. An impatient person can be seen as a politician who gets things done, a lack of generosity can be seen as a plus in the business world, and humility can often lead to being overlooked in a room of outspoken people. But no confidence? You probably aren't going anywhere.
Confidence is overrated because it is not necessarily reflective of one's actual skills, and society forces people to appear confident even when they are not. Often the confident person will be hired over a less confident person, even if the second person is more qualified. Because of the weight that society places on confidence, the employer may have to use more resources to train the more confident individual, while the second individual's skills go to waste. A rather inefficient system if you ask me.
The latter can be dangerous - pretending to be confident often distorts one's real personality which will emerge in due time anyways. The false confidence not only brings a level of uncertainty and worry to the individual, others may also make assumptions or assign tasks that the individual may be incapable of doing. Yet, putting on an air of confidence is relatively common, if not expected, for job interviews, first dates, and at school. False confidence is not an example of a virtue, nor is it over-confidence, but it is a quality that exists because confidence is so positively viewed, or overrated.
Ultimately, confidence is a good thing, if not great - it can greatly enhance one's ability to perform and it helps to build trust in a community. But as an overrated quality, confidence easily shadows other virtues and can direct focus away from other important traits. Perhaps most of all, everyone has a different level of confidence. In order to build confidence in everyone while avoiding arrogance or false confidence, people must be patient and diligent and give everyone a chance to shine and build their other skills.
As I see it, confidence is a virtue that comes with the others, but viewing it above the others as it is currently overrated, will only lead to more problems.
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