"Circumstances does not make the man...

"Circumstances does not make the man - it reveals him to himself"


Written for a 12 step group



J.W. the largest lotto winner in history, winning $314.9 million seems to be the news a lot. He was robbed at an adult strip bar a while back. Another report on the news a few weeks ago has charges being brought up against him for threatening the life of a bartender after being banned from the bar for being unruly. Lately he was picked up and arrested for DUI. J.W. is obviously overweight from the photos we see of him, so food addiction might be another problem as well as who knows how many other addictions and problems he has to deal with that are not so glaring.

I am not writing about J.W. to badmouth him or break his anonymity, since all this is public record and on the news. I am writing about this topic to underscore the facts that "circumstances does not make the man - it reveals him to himself" and money cannot buy happiness and especially can never buy peace and serenity. Many of us put our happiness and hopes of peace on hold until we would come into a windfall, maybe not as extreme as J.W.'s windfall, but we put things on hold none the same and cannot find happiness and peace where we are at.

This phrase, "circumstances does not make the man - it reveals him to himself" was taken from James Allen little book entitled "As A Man Thinketh." (Now, all you women that dislike anything male, go buy a copy of As a Woman Thinketh, so you don't feel left out.) This important concept of "self revelation" can also be told in a story that is used in philosophy class called the Ring of Gyges or Myth of Gyges. The story taken from Plato's Republic and recounts how the shepherd Gyges finds a ring on a hand extending from a crack in the earth and removes the ring from the hand and puts it on. Gyges discovers the ring gives him powers to be invisible at will and then uses these powers to kill the king, rape the queen and take over the kingdom. Afterwards, his lack of virtue catches up with him.

What is virtue and ethics? Some authorities define it as moral excellence or excellence of the soul. In readily understandable terms we can define virtue for us from this story of Gyges and ask ourselves the question, "What would we do if no one was looking or we knew we would not get caught?" Yes, circumstances does not make the man - it reveals him to himself. Virtue or moral excellence cannot be bought as the example of J.W. proves. Virtue is not learned from the classroom, other than memorizing definitions. Remember, a fool can only say what he knows ~ it takes a wise man to know what he says. How do we develop living a virtuous life and really know what we say? As Professor D. Robinson of Georgetown mentioned in a lecture on virtue, "We develop virtue by practicing being virtuous or morally excellent 7 days a week and each day being better than the day before -- in other words we make it a habit of being virtuous."

"Circumstances does not make the man - it reveals him to himself"