Virtue: Merit

     There's a saying that Abraham Lincoln said which goes: "Anyone can withstand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." Lincoln empowered so many generals during the American Civil War like Hooper, Burnside, Meade, and Grant. But, Grant had the merit to fight the south to absolute victory. Sure, the other generals had their positions and authority and could gather a great army to defend the north from the south like two times in Bull Run, Antietam, and Gettysburg, but none had the merit to fight till the enemy went to total surrender: Grant did. He did it in Fort Henry, Kentucky, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Tennessee, and Vicksburg, Mississippi to help secure union control over the Mississippi river. Why was Grant's merit worth the notice of President Lincoln? Easy: Grant proved his worth.

    Skip nearly 30 years later in the Spanish-American War in Cuba. Another president named Theodore Roosevelt led ranchers and cowboys known as the rough riders against the Spanish in Cuba, Roosevelt could have been a lieutenant in the army, but he chose to be a second lieutenant because he felt unworthy and wanted to prove his merit. When he was a child, he was an ill child and had to do work outs with hunting, rowing, and boxing to overcome this problem, so it was no surprised he felt unworthy of the army. He felt that way when he became a rancher in the Dakotas because the only experience he had was a politician in New York, so he knew how to talk, but not how to be a cowboy. He wanted to prove himself as a rancher. In the Spanish-
American war, he did lead the rough riders against the weakened Spanish to occupy not one but two hills on the risk of his own life. That charge encouraged the Americans to keep moving forward until Cuba was freed from the Spanish. Because of his merit in the war, Teddy Roosevelt was recognized by his countrymen to be Vice President, and on the death of William Mckinley, he became president. I am not glorifying war, but a virtue in all of us: merit.

    Merit is a choice to prove ourselves: to prove our worth, our dignity, our humanity, our talents, and our gifts. Merit helps us to prove that we are worth something: that our lives have meaning and purpose. Merit helps us to show that we are human capable of great things, of noble deeds, of love, of joy, and other meaningful merits--even though we don't feel worthy of them. One such person whom wanted to prove his merit to Jesus was the Centurian whose servant was sick. He wanted his servant healed, and asked Jesus to heal him. However, he being a gentile didn't feel worthy that Jesus, a Jew, could go under his roof. The Centurian said to give the word, and his servant will be healed. He related to Jesus his merits by saying that he had people over him and under him telling his servants to do something and they did it. Jesus marveled by his faith, and healed his servant with a word. Jesus acknowledged the Centurian's merit.

    Personally, I often consider myself unworthy of a wife because of my family issues, my schizophrenia, my flaws and sins, my sex drive, and my misunderstandings about relationships and marriage cause of the five divorces in my family. All i know is toxicity and dysfunction, but i am working on being worthy of a wife: to provide and protect and lead. I desire to learn about healthy, good relationships and good marriages. I want to feel worthy of being a good husband and father, and that requires merit and character. My character gets tested everyday: sometimes i learn from my failures and sometimes i enjoy my humble successes. Either way I am learning to prove my merit, and you can too, o reader. Perhaps, George Washington will give you a medal for your merit. You never know, o reader, what honor may come.