Virtues

I was just thinking about the virtues we say at the start of every training session at karate. I won't bother you with the japanese, but this is what they mean:

Be truthful and sincere
Never regret the effort you put in
Be enthusiastic and energetic in everything you do
Never do anything you will be ashamed of
Don't be lazy

They're really pretty good virtues to say, a bit harder to follow them all the time in our daily lives. Still, I suppose it would be a better world if everybody did follow them.

I was also thinking about people who are addicted to things. While I will still call them foolish and weak-willed, I can feel a bit more sorry for them now that I thought about it like this.
Suppose that someone told you that listening to music slowly caused your brain to release chemicals that would eventually kill you. Now, you'd obviously have to stop listening to music, were it possible in our society, and I could certainly do it if it prevented me from dying, but I would be rather sad at the prospect of never hearing anything so beautiful again. It would be a hard thing to have to give up. So I can feel slightly more sorry for people who have to give stuff up because they'll die otherwise. They're still foolish for getting themselves addicted to something stupid that can't possibly be anywhere near as awesome as music, but I do pity them a little now.