Do you have to be a great defensive player to steal the football from Brett Favre's hand? During an unsuccessful Packer attempt to defeat Cincinnati on October 30, 2005, the Bengals defense picked off Brett five times. In the Packers’ final drive a fan rushed the field, prompting officials’ whistles and the unwitting number four to hand the ball over to a crazed Bengals fan (Brett thinking he was a referee). The guy danced toward the endzone with the ball and a confidence that would make Al Harris envious.
The difference between this athlete wannabee and a real football player illustrates the difference between someone who can act virtuous and a virtuous person. I think this is what C. S. Lewis is saying in this chapter. The question at hand is: are you virtuous or merely offering a cheap, public imitation of virtue? Take a look at the four virtues:
· Prudence tells even the mass murderer to take his finger off the trigger and run for cover. It is not morally neutral. You need not have advanced intelligence in order to be prudent, but you cannot be prudent without thinking good thoughts.
· Temperance calls the drunk to be "responsible," step away from the bar and call for a designated driver. Even pagans recognize the need to say no to yourself. Lewis's comments may disturb you if you are a "teetotaler," but you cannot argue with him as he compares intemperance with alcohol to intemperance with golf or your dog (or Halo or the next episode of 24).
· Justice moves crackheads and other criminals to take to the streets and riot when a jury fails to condemn an officer accused of racial profiling and using excessive force.
· Fortitude allows a basketball star who cannot control his gambling habit to lead his team to victory, scoring 38 points even though he is terribly sick with the flu.
Maybe the real issue in all of this is that recognizing the virtues and having the capacity to display them are two different things. Our sinfulness moves us to muster enough flesh to display one or two of the virtues so we can condemn others who haven't arrived. Condemnation serves as camouflage for the lack of virtue in other areas.
· Prudence tells even the mass murderer to take his finger off the trigger and run for cover. It is not morally neutral. You need not have advanced intelligence in order to be prudent, but you cannot be prudent without thinking good thoughts.
· Temperance calls the drunk to be "responsible," step away from the bar and call for a designated driver. Even pagans recognize the need to say no to yourself. Lewis's comments may disturb you if you are a "teetotaler," but you cannot argue with him as he compares intemperance with alcohol to intemperance with golf or your dog (or Halo or the next episode of 24).
· Justice moves crackheads and other criminals to take to the streets and riot when a jury fails to condemn an officer accused of racial profiling and using excessive force.
· Fortitude allows a basketball star who cannot control his gambling habit to lead his team to victory, scoring 38 points even though he is terribly sick with the flu.
Maybe the real issue in all of this is that recognizing the virtues and having the capacity to display them are two different things. Our sinfulness moves us to muster enough flesh to display one or two of the virtues so we can condemn others who haven't arrived. Condemnation serves as camouflage for the lack of virtue in other areas.
What do you think? How does a person know whether he or she is in the “game” and not just putting on a show?
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