This year our Scholarship Committee has decided to post several of our award-winning submissions reviewed by the committee this season. Every year our Lodge provides a scholarship available to graduating seniors of Petaluma public high schools, for which the students must discuss how Temperance, Prudence, Fortitude, and Justice have affected their lives. Here’s our first one to be published!
When I attended my first wedding reception I was about nine years old and mesmerized by the sight of chocolate fountains, cake, pastries, and plenty of ice cream. By the end of the night all I could do was lay down and regret every delicious bite that had passed through my lips. That night may have been my first memorable experience with temperance, or a lack thereof, and I’ve since learned to appreciate its importance. It is often said that we must have moderation in all things, which is precisely what temperance is. I believe that temperance is one of the most important virtues for personal and individual development. If we can’t discipline and control ourselves, we become slaves to the vices of the world, we inhibit the potential that is fighting to gain the spotlight. When we have mastered ourselves, we can truly do anything.
Each person on this planet must at some point in his/her life exhibit fortitude and endurance to a degree which they never imagined. For me, one of the biggest contributors to the necessity of fortitude in my life is my health. When I was ten years old I was diagnosed with a chronic incurable autoimmune disease called Ulcerative Colitis which has interfered with virtually every aspect of my life. These last seven years have been difficult, they’ve been exhausting, they’ve been frustrating, and they’ve taken work, but I’ve become stronger as a result. Every day I gain strength and understanding as I progress in this journey. Fortitude is the power and the courage to carry burdens we never thought we could even lift off the ground and it is something we are each endowed with when we allow it.
Prudence is a virtue that is tough for high school students because it leaves no room for procrastination. Prudence, though it involves wisdom that comes with age, is incredibly important to the younger generations. We must use it to plan for our futures and ensure a bright tomorrow. I have tried to implement prudence in my life ever since I was in middle school as I began preparing to go to a good school, learn as much as I could, and get a good career. Ever since then I have done my very best to challenge myself academically taking nearly every honors or AP class that I could and receiving perfect grades. I even transferred schools my junior year so that I could have more opportunities and challenges. If part of prudence is preparing for the future, then prudence has been incredibly important these past few years.
To me, justice is the enforcing of all other virtues; standing up for what is right and true. This is the virtue I may have consciously practiced most throughout my life as I have tried to stand up for my values, beliefs, and standards. I have never done any drugs, I have never had any alcohol, I haven’t had any sexual interactions with anyone, I dress modestly, I have never said a single curse word in my life, and so much more. I hold myself to a high standard, one that is hard and seems unnecessarily boring to everyone else, but it makes me happy and I am proud to say that after all these years I still stand up for my beliefs and standards.
