What can you appreciate most in people? Of course, a lot, and everyone has their own list. But is there anything unique? Something that is appreciated in any person and will suit everyone? In order to know this, we should turn to the greatest minds of different eras and endure the common, find something unique, suitable for our time. And uniqueness, as we know, is old things in a new order.
Let's imagine the following text as a kind of guide, because it does not at all imply a clear definition of the main qualities. This is just an example that clearly shows the train of thought, and the final decision on what qualities can be appreciated in people is made by everyone for himself.
Wisdom
The Greeks distinguished four types of qualities that can be appreciated in people:
- Wisdom.
- Courage.
- Justice.
- Moderation.
Wisdom is closely related to intelligence. However, it does not determine the amount of knowledge, but its application. That is, if a person has a broad vision of many areas and knows many things, but at the same time does not know how toapply in life, then he lacks wisdom. A wise person may not know much, but he knows when and how to apply the information he has.
Courage is often positioned as the main virtue of warriors. However, sometimes we need just as much courage to face everyday problems. To be courageous means not to deviate from your opinion, to stand on what you think is right. But this courage does not come from innate qualities, not from mythical willpower. Courage comes from the realization of one's rightness, the importance of one's work, faith in oneself.
Justice is a quality that, unfortunately, life does not have, but an individual person can have. A just person judges others by their actions and takes into account absolutely all circumstances before "condemning" someone. And since taking into account all the circumstances is a very rare opportunity, then a just person is never in a hurry to condemn another. This is a highly humane quality, it does not imply blind adherence to the principle of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
Moderation has become especially important in the consumer age. There is a whole whirlpool of goods and inspirational slogans around: "More money - more opportunities." How can you resist the desire to have everything you can? All this eventually turns into a race for pleasure. To avoid an abundance of temptations, it is necessary to bemoderate in pleasures and everyday activities.
What are we highlighting? If we look closely, we will see that all these qualities are united by wisdom. Indeed, courage presupposes some knowledge of one's purpose, awareness of one's own values. In order to be fair, it is necessary to apply and analyze knowledge about a person and an act, to be able to think. Moderation also means knowing that it is important not to spread yourself over everything, because it is not designed to make you suffer, but to focus on the most important thing.
For all this we need wisdom, which means that it is a very important quality for any person. We will single it out as one of those qualities that can be appreciated in people.
Kindness
Leo Tolstoy said a very clever thing:
The best person is the one who lives mainly by his own thoughts and other people's feelings, the worst kind of person is the one who lives by other people's thoughts and feelings.
This means that a good person thinks, as they say, with his head. He is not satisfied with other people's conclusions and normative guidelines, he is critical of everything and analyzes everything on his own. Lives with other people's feelings. That is, he is not focused only on his emotions, but respects the feelings of others.
A person of the "worst sort" does not think with his own head, he listens and accepts only the opinions of others. His mind is full of stereotypes and other people's beliefs, he is not used to analyzing and thinking on his own. At the same time, they are concernedpersonality only own feelings. The main thing is that he feels good, he doesn't care about other people.
What will we take from here? Of course, we focus on the "best person". We already have wisdom about living with our thoughts. But respect for other people's feelings is nothing but kindness. And that's definitely something to appreciate in people.
Honesty
Thomas Jefferson once said:
Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.
The above qualities cannot be valuable without honesty. Why? Because it is easy to deceive the interlocutor, but people are much more willing to deceive themselves. What is the use of kindness if you harm people by convincing yourself of your own holiness? What good is wisdom when it's just cowardice covered in lies?
Honesty is important first of all to yourself. Ask yourself openly: "Am I doing the right thing?" And answer honestly. Without it, you can indulge yourself with thoughts of your own kindness as much as you like, but you will not become kinder from this.
Being honest with other people is important, but she always looks behind being honest with herself. After all, telling everyone what you think about them is not at all wise. Very often it is worth just biting your tongue or even lying. When to do this, it is wisdom that will tell. The only person you need to be completely honest with at all times is yourself.
Truely honest is the one who constantly asks himself if he is honest enough. (Titus Maccius Plautus)
Result
Why only three? Of course, it was possible to specify the complete list of commandments, all thirteen virtues of Benjamin Franklin and sweeten it with a couple of good words from the saints. But three is too many. Try using them and you will see that it is unexpectedly difficult, because the wind that was favorable to you will now constantly blow your hat off your head.
