Virtue: Sacrifice

Virtue: Sacrifice

‘Let us sacrifice our today so that our children can have a better tomorrow.’ (A.P.J. Abdul Kalam)

Habits of Mind: Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations.

On the virtue of sacrifice, Alain de Botton writes: ‘We’re hardwired to seek our own advantage but also have a miraculous ability, very occasionally, to forego our own satisfactions in the name of someone or something else. We won’t ever manage to raise a family, love someone else or save the planet if we don’t keep up with the art of sacrifice.’ And all things worth doing involve a degree of sacrifice, the sacrifice of the choice we did not take, ‘the road not taken’, in order to pursue another particular path.

I recently read an interesting novel by Matt Haigh called ‘The Midnight Library’ in which the protagonist who is depressed, is offered a library of books charting the lives she might have lived, had she chosen differently at particular times in her life. She had long wondered ‘what if…’ she’d taken one path over another and imagined things would have turned out much better. Not so. Each life involved compromises and sacrifices, leading her to appreciate the life she had. Yes it had involved, for example the sacrifice of some of her ambitions, but she had gained in other ways which would have been lost had she chosen differently.

Our own pupils learn the importance of sacrifice when they prepare for their exams. To succeed they need to sacrifice some of their leisure time in order to have a ‘better tomorrow’. Every choice made entails some sacrifice and that is the way our life becomes meaningful.

Sacrifice as a virtue is deeply embedded in spiritual and religious teachings and is seen as a profound expression of altruism and selflessness. It involves giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy. Currently we are in two important religious seasons which involve elements of personal sacrifice – the Christian season of Lent and the Islamic month of Ramadan. In each, sacrificial fasting plays an important role. This may take different forms but each involves the giving up of food or personal habits as a physical and spiritual discipline. While such sacrifices are character builders, these experiences can enlarge compassion towards others and inspire generosity towards others and society as a whole. During Lent I know many Christians are focusing less on what they are giving up and more on what they will do for others that will inevitably require some sacrifice of time and/or money.

Sacrifice is arguably the highest virtue because it encapsulates what true love is, promoting personal and communal growth. Its practice challenges a culture of self-interest, offering instead a vision of a more compassionate world. By living sacrificially individuals advance not only their own moral and spiritual development, but also contribute to the transformation of society at large.

Christine Crossley