Diamonds to desire

We had to share an assignment with some friends during school. The leader of our group, Jack, was a taskmaster. While he was neither reticent nor curt, people had a penchant to ridicule him. They were of the opinion that he loves to study. Today, we live in a culture that does not appreciate anyone who desires perfection. They ridicule them saying often, ‘You don’t have a life’ or ‘so and so’ is boring. It is a strange and dangerous downwards descent. For only if one is aggressive, one is fun. Only if one is outspoken, shows bravado or can mock others, one has a personality. People usually are more inclined to hold such things in high esteem than to hold in esteem, others who are quiet. Perhaps they are quiet not because they are reserved but because they show restraint.

There was a time when a kid could say his multiplication tables at the snap of fingers and he would be called ‘smart kid’. Nowadays we forget the child put in effort to know his tables. For today, a child who is repulsive to the notion of ‘effort’ and virtue and who can still table the homework albeit unscrupulously is deemed smart. The usage of words has evolved much at the expense of virtue. Is it the death of right usage? Much like the Anti-Christ, we have come to an age of anti-usage. Virtue’s labor lost?

And so Jack, though extraordinarily competent and holding a high order of graces, was still lampooned. I was not party to it. Most of the times, I pitied him for being derided for I saw what others couldn’t: he was very diligent and brilliantly bright. I saw what others saw and yet overlooked. But what pained me is: why did I appreciate this person so much? Why was I in awe of him when he was only an object of humor for the rest?

I had recognized the good where others were clouded. I appreciated Jack because of a diamond. Diamonds are rare and beautiful too. I appreciated Jack, for, like everything rare that is glorified, virtue is rare too. Virtue is noble and all good and hence worth fighting for. As virtue has to be fought for, it isn’t easy. That is why sincerity and perseverance is rare in an individual. Most of the times, they require a fight, a pursuit. Virtue is not by its nature a trait in an individual but a pursuit. We are what we do. We don’t just do virtue, we choose it. A lot of things in the world are done without virtue and the world still functions.

And so I wondered what drove Jack so much that I was bereft of? What did he see in the problem so much that I didn’t? What did he understand that I didn’t? What did he appreciate that I couldn’t? I was in appreciation for these about him. I couldn’t observe the same drive in others about his struggle. I had a diamond of my own.