I’m generally the sort of person who tends to downplay my skills at marketing and promotion. The way I prefer to go about my business is to do the best I can at whatever I am doing, live and behave reasonably openly and sincerely to my beliefs and worldview, and to present myself in such a way that if you are really looking for answers or opinions that you are going to be able to find them. I’m not the sort of person who likes to deceive others concerning my intentions–I would prefer to flush my enemies out into the light than to have them sneaking around in the dark. I’m aware that not everyone is this way, but I am.

Today was the student orientation for Legacy Institute for the 2012-2013 school year. A dozen students have made it so far, though we have a few more expected to come in the next few days and weeks even. As I looked over the students that were there, and thought about the students that were not there, I thought about the attrition process of a school like ours. For example, there were two third-year students at the start of orientation (a third one arrived during the orientation) from a class that had half a dozen people last year. Among the first year students from last year, a little over half of them from the start of last year were present at the start of this one. Who can tell all of the reasons why someone starts and is unable to finish, and though it is sad to see it is a reminder that we ought to count the costs to make sure we have what it takes to finish what we start.

The end of the mission statement of Legacy Institute is as follows: “Right living leads to a righteous family which leads to a righteous society.” In a way, this mission is very similar to my own motto when it comes to writing and living. Do the best you can, and let the influence take place naturally, without coercion or hype or pressure. Virtue is a funny thing, after all. All too often we wish for virtuous leaders in the thought that if the person in charge is righteous that it will mean a righteous people. But virtue is not forced from the top down. Instead, virtue springs from the inside out, little by little. And few have the patience to let it do its work inside us and others.

There is a dilemma that authorities and ordinary people face when it comes to virtue. It is common for people to desire and even demand respect from others while not cultivating their own sense of personal responsibility, desiring the fruits of adulthood without the considerable toil and labor of adulthood. On the other hand, people in authority all too often want those under them to take responsibility but are unwilling to give them respect and want to micromanage them at the same time, which sabotages and destroys any kind of development of self-discipline or internal motivation. It is a slow process to develop the capacity of people to rule over themselves, but if we want a good society, we have to be willing to go through the growing pains that are required for someone to be capable of freedom and personal responsibility. To try to speed up that process through top-down control is to prevent it altogether.

Is the goal a righteous society? Then one has to develop people capable of independent thought, who do not need to be constantly supervised to behave properly, who are motivated to learn and grow from within. Because those kinds of people will develop virtue if properly taught and if proper examples are provided, because they will see success in life and relationships and desire that success for themselves, and be willing to work for it. And those people will then influence others with their example. But it takes time and opportunities. Virtue unrewarded will not be diligently cultivated and will certainly not be imitated. Enforced virtue from above that is not believed from within will be obeyed with lip service while people are watching, but will be mocked and insulted in private and within, and will be without value, since virtue is a path that must be freely chosen, like all worthwhile aspects of life.