Does Virtue Matter?

Jean de La Bruyère was a 17th Century French philosopher who made a very interesting remark about the (apparently few) people of the day whose only pleasure was the acquisition of money.

I’m afraid I have bad news for Jean’s eternal spirit about the state of humankind as it exists today, 400 years later, at least in America.  Here and now, those who derive pleasure by living virtuous lives are extremely rare.

When my kids were in their teens , we used to have discussions about the things that were important to them.  At a certain point, they told me that money was the only thing that counted in their adolescent social lives.  I asked, “Don’t things like honesty and kindness matter?”  They said, “Dad, you’re from a different point in history.”  I suppose so.